Mission: FIT: Kilwinning gym raise £7,260 for Megan's Space

Those were the words of one the owners of Kilwinning gym Mission: FIT following the teams 24-hour 'burpeeathon' fundraiser in aid of local charity Megan's Space.

The team of Roy Blakely, Nicki Duffy and Sean MacKinnon organised the fundraiser at the end of last month as they looked to offer their support to the "amazing" local mental health charity - and raising an incredible £7,260.

Megan's Space was launched in 2019 after former St Matthew's Academy pupil Megan Copeland, a young woman from Irvine with a bright future and personality, loved by those around her, took her own life.

In the aftermath of her tragic death, Megan’s Space was founded by her parents Jenny and Rob, with the aim of stopping the same thing happening to anyone else.

As the team at Mission: FIT looked to give back, they decided to complete a 24-hour 'burpeeathon' - which saw the timespan split up into 48 half-hour segments with at least one person completing burpees at any given time during the full day.

The remarkable effort, which ran through the night from 6pm on Friday October 27 until the same time on Saturday October 28, saw both Nicki and Roy step in during five different timeslots to fill in any gaps as numerous local groups, people, teams and organisations backed the effort.

Running on a mix of determination and caffeine - the pair battled through alongside around 400 different competitors to raise the incredible sum of over £7,000.

The gym even streamed their efforts - with thousands of people tuning in across the 24-hour event.

“It was unreal," Roy commented, "honestly, it was actually quite overwhelming in terms of that we can put the systems in place, but will people get behind us?

“Start to finish it was incredible, the people that got behind us was unbelievable - even folk that were just passing.

“Our eyes were spinning at like 6am but the new groups coming in every half hour kept us going."

And part of the driving factor pushing them through was knowing the impact the fundraising could have.

A large part of the reasoning behind fundraising for Megan's Space, as a small local charity, was knowing and being able to see the impact this money would have.

Jenny from Megan's Space - who took part in the burpeeathon herself despite "a dodgy hip" - told the team that the money will help fund 170 therapy sessions for young people.

That equates to helping around 35 different people, though the charity say that that for every one person that receives help, that could have knock on effect on 20 other people in their lives – meaning up to 700 people could benefit.

“We stayed up for 40-odd hours but we would stay awake for five days if we knew it would have that impact," Roy added.

The gym team also wanted to thank all those who made the fundraising possible alongside them thanks to their "outstanding generosity".

They told of how people aged as young as seven, to as old as 74 all took part - and how the gym's over 50s group stayed for hours to cheer and sing for the groups taking part.

Mission: FIT also received fantastic backing as they held a wellness day for all participants and members on the Sunday following the event.

“If we could do something like that every year that would be great," Roy added.

“If we can get behind the community we are happy to do it – the gym is very community driven.”

The team at Mission: FIT would also like to thank the following groups and businesses for helping make the event a success: MK Apparel; Donna Fitzsimmons Body Shop; Sharon Cearny Body Shop; Rose Creations; The PT Hub Stewarton; ELITE Fitness Studio; Kilwinning Fire Service; Berrie Fresh Foods; Abbey Digital Screen Print; Outcast Coffee Club; Kilwinning Rangers (various age groups); Ardrossan Winton Rovers (various age groups); Ardeer Thistle 2013s; Ardrossan Accies; North Ayrshire Athletics Club; Vicky Rodgers from My Kind Yoga; Western School of Massage and of course Megan's Space.