Super-fit friends complete health charity grueller for Wigan's hospitals

Led by Mike Reid, of Mike Reid Fitness in Hindley, the 25-member strong team set out to complete individual challenges of half a million metres in total, but as a collective they racked up a whopping 3,305,000m between them, taking part in running, cycling, rowing and spin bike exercises to name a few.

The January challenge, which was devised by Mike and friend Matthew Crompton at Christmas, was set up to raise awareness and support of the work being carried out by Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s palliative care team during the pandemic, a team of which Mike’s wife Hannah is a member.

The palliative care service is part of the North West Cancer Services Network, with nurses using their Macmillan knowledge so each patient can attain the best quality of life possible.

Mike said: “Hannah, like so many others, has been working on the frontline throughout the pandemic, and it made me raise the question, ‘what more can I do to help?’ NHS staff and other key workers across the country are all heroes in my eyes, and I’ve seen the pressure and the physical and emotional challenge they go through first hand.

“It made me want to stand up and do something to give back to people like Hannah, and particularly to her colleagues and the team at WWL, so we set up this challenge to help raise awareness of their work and as a thank you for their efforts.

“I’ve been overwhelmed with the effort from our members, what they achieved individually and as a group is absolutely outstanding and it’s given everyone an immense sense of pride to have completed the challenge in the name of the hardworking members of staff in our local NHS trust.

“It was a gruelling challenge, with the goal of carrying out an exercise each day and multiplying the date by 1,000 each time, so for January 1 we did 1,000m; January 2 we did 2,000m and so on, with an additional 4,000m on our last day to make the total up to 500,000 each.

“We did all sorts of activities and I even did something extra myself called ‘Mike’s Miserable Mile’, mainly because of the weather, but it involved pulling a weighted-sled whilst wearing a weight vest and holding an additional weight in each hand to complete a mile.

“In total we had five people complete the full half a million metres, myself, Matthew, Fraaz Mirza, Megan Woodcock and Andy Bennett, but all of our members deserve the credit and more so the NHS staff deserve it for inspiring us to get up and do something to contribute back to them.”

Support to Mike and his team at justgiving.com/crowdfunding/mike-reid-2

Thanks for reading. If you value what we do and are able to support us, a digital subscription is just £1 for your first month. Try us today by clicking here