A sponsored gym liftathon raising money for lifesaving defibrillators saw members smash their targets — lifting over one-and-a-half million kg in weight and raising £2,200.
The 24-hour sporting effort was organised by Penrith electrician Glenn Carrigan, aged 43, at the District L gym in Myers Lane.
Glenn suffered a cardiac arrest while running in Bitts Park, Carlisle, in August and it was through a combination of lifesaving CPR and the use of a defibrillator that paramedics were able to get his heart beating again.
He was in a two-day induced coma and transferred to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle to undergo a triple heart bypass.
The experience inspired Glenn to raise money to have a defibrillator installed at District L gym — where he himself trains. It is owned by George Birkett.
Starting at 6am on Saturday and running for 24 hours, more than 60 people took part and managed to lift a collective 1,585,036kg.
Glenn said: “People came down through the day mostly but we had a few through the night so there were two to three people at all times.
“The atmosphere was really good — everybody was really enjoying themselves trying to do different things to mix it up so they could go more than once so doing upper and then lower body weights.
“We hoped to get to one million kg and then thought ‘right, let’s try to get another half-a-million!’ so everyone was trying to work out how much they could lift to get us there. It was a really good laugh and everyone embraced it.”
An online Just Giving page set up for the liftathon has seen £1,600 pledged in donations but further money given to the cause and raised through a raffle has brought the total to around £2,200 — hugely exceeding Glenn’s £1,400 original target.
With defibrillators costing around £1,400 the money will now be spent on a machine for District L and Glenn will also be contacting the local authority to see where a second defibrillator could be best placed using the funds.
Glenn said he and his wife Suzi were “over the moon” with the support the fundraising effort received and thanked everyone who took part or donated money and raffle prizes.
