Wigan fund-raiser aims to do thousands of press-ups in 12 hours in charity challenge

Aaron Woodward has taken on a series of sponsored runs in the past year, including two marathons in two days and a 53-mile run from Wigan to Leeds.

He raised hundreds of pounds for suicide prevention charity CALM in memory of his sister Tracy, who died by suicide in 2015, and after an attempt to take his own life.

He is aiming to do 5,000 press-ups in just 12 hours, between 6am and 6pm on Saturday, April 10, and will be live-streaming it all on Facebook.

Aaron, who lives in Newtown, said: “I have done a couple of running challenges now and I really wanted to switch things up. With the colder weather, I’m more at risk of injury from running so I’d rather leave that to the summer.

“I’m very confident. I’ll do seven push-ups a minute. I’m very athletic and can do 100 push-up in one go, no problem.

“It’s more an issue of the mental game. It’s doing the same repetitive thing for 12 hours. I ran to Leeds in 13 hours though so I know I can do these long challenges.”

He is hoping people will support him during the day as he shares the challenge live on Facebook.

But he says if he does not meet his 12-hour deadline, he will keep going until he has done all 5,000 press-ups.

He is determined to succeed and raise money for Wigan and Leigh Hospice.

He said: “I find it incredible that it costs nearly £10,000 a day to run, or £5m a year, and only one-third of that really comes from the NHS. It blew my mind. With the day centre having to be shut down - I find that really abhorrent - and donations have really gone down since the lockdown, so it seems to be a big struggle.

“It’s in my home town so I really want to do as much as I can for the hospice.”

Aaron already has ideas for more fund-raising challenges once he completes this, including attempting to do 10,000 press-ups in 24 hours and running around Alexandra Park in Newtown for 12 hours.

To sponsor Aaron, go to www.justgiving.com/fundraising/aaron-woodward4

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