HMS Heron's Gymnasium has raised £1500 for charity with a non-stop 24-hour challenge

HMS Heron’s physical training instructors hosted a non-stop 24-hour grueling event raising £1,500 for the Royal Navy Royal Marine Charity and Pancreatic Cancer UK starting at 5am on Tuesday 13 June and finishing at 5am on Wed 14 June.

The event consisted of non-stop MURPH challenges, with someone starting a MURPH challenge every hour on the hour.  A MURPH consists of 1-mile run, 100 pull ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats and an additional 1-mile run.  

Leading Physical Trainer (LPT) Jack McCormack (23) who organized the event said, ‘It helps promote fitness in general and gives people the opportunity to come and challenge themselves.  While also raising money for charity.’  

He added, ‘It’s been a great event. It is physically hard and also mentally hard as well, but the environment is so good. There are loads of encouragement and support from all taking part.’ 

The event was open to everyone across the camp, with a total of 46 people participating.  This ranged from Able Rating to Officers and across the services Royal Navy, Royal Marine, Army and Civil servant. 

Petty Officer Physical Trainer (POPT) Lee Foxhall (39) said, ‘It’s great to welcome people back into the gym of all ranks and services to get them through the door and interested in sport. We have at least 1 person completing a MURPH every hour and to only have 4 slots empty shows how keen the station is to challenge themselves.’

These empty slots were quickly picked up by the Physical Trainers and staff.  Civil Servant Miles Caswell (36) said, ‘After a 5am start, I’ve just done my fourth run! The first two runs felt easy, but now fatigue is setting in and the pauses in between reps are getting longer. The hardest part is pain in your hands, from the blisters from pull ups.’

The event was a success with at least 1 MURPH completed every hour with multiple participants completing more than 1 MURPH often with the added challenge of wearing a 7-10kg vest.  Miles Caswell completed 7, LPT McCormack completed 8, POPT Foxhall and Chief Petty Officer Physical Trainer Kerr both completed 12.  An astounding total combined effort from the PT staff of 78 miles, 3,900 pull ups, 7,800 press ups and 11,700 squats!  

An incredible £1,500 was raised for the Royal Navy Royal Marine Charity and Pancreatic Cancer UK.  POPT Foxhall said, ‘This is the first event the gymnasium has held for a number of years and was a great success in advertising our facility, the chosen charity and getting personnel through the door again.’

RNAS Yeovilton is incredibly proud of all who took part and the money raised. Inspired? You can still donate - Daniel Kerr is fundraising for Pancreatic Cancer UK (justgiving.com)