Two Wiganers are attempting a 24-hour gym challenge to support mental health in Wigan borough and beyond. Abbie Atherton and Caitlin Craig will test their endurance for 24 hours from 8am on Saturday, February 8 to support Andy’s Man Club and Samaritans.
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00:00On Saturday the 8th of February we will be doing a 24-hour challenge called the 5-3-5-4.
00:06128,496 metres in total each, which is consisting of us from here, from Wigan, to travel into around Yorkshire.
00:19So we'll be doing 24 hours of constant movement basically, it's every hour on the hour, splitting of 2 hours, we'll do 12 times.
00:26So we're starting at 8am and we'll finish at 8am.
00:29So hour 1 is 5,354 metres on the ski, which we'll both do each, and then we do 75 cals on the bike split between us.
00:39And however long that takes within the hour, the rest of the time we will actually get to breathe before we go again on the next hour.
00:46And hour 2 is the same but on the rower. So we'll do 5-3-5-4 each on the rower and then 75 cals split on the bike.
00:55So we'll be on the rower 12 times, on the skier 12 times and on the bike 24 times.
01:025,354 people actually took their own lives between April and June 2023 and 2024, so that's where the figure came from.
01:13So we want to focus it on that. And the 75 has come from because actually 75% of them were men who took their own lives between that time.
01:21And it's actually 75% more likely that a man is to take their own life than a woman. So that's where the idea of the 75 came from.
01:29So me and Caitlyn have always kind of wanted to do something. I mean we've actually only probably been friends for like a year and a half.
01:37We haven't known each other that long. Caitlyn was coming into the gym, I work at the gym. We were alongside each other training and stuff here and there.
01:46From movement we just have become a solid kind of unit and the same with the people around us.
01:51I wouldn't have dealt with the things that have gone on in my life this past year as well if I weren't surrounded by the people that I train with and if I hadn't kept going basically.
02:05The reason that I really, really wanted to do something, Caitlyn actually came up with the idea of doing a 24 hour challenge.
02:13Because I knew I wanted to raise money for men's mental health because my dad is one of the 5'3", 5'4". So he lost his life on the 26th of April 2024, so this year.
02:27And I knew I wanted to do something and it wasn't even just that I wanted to do something. I kind of felt like I needed to do something about it.
02:40But obviously everyone deals with grief in different ways. I personally am not very good at talking. Me filming this now and Caitlyn's had to leave. I'm not very good at talking myself. I do really struggle with it.
02:55You're your own worst enemy but you're also your biggest cheerleader and it's only you who can make yourself a better person.
03:03Our challenge, the pain and the stress and the impact it's going to have on our body is nothing compared to the people who are suffering with mental health day in day out.
03:13But we're kind of just doing this challenge to raise money to help support them. Charities who are experiencing and who are supporting them. People who are struggling 24-7 with the mental battle they face.
03:24The way that I've tried to understand it is that my dad won't have felt like anything would change if he wasn't here. And it does. He had such a place in the world.
03:39People who take their own lives don't realise that they are loved and there are people in the world that love you and there's amazing people out there. The world can be such an amazing place.
03:50And I just don't think they can see it. It's just keep going.
03:55It's more than just us. Yes we want to challenge ourselves but we're doing it for those 5354 people who lost their lives. The people before that, the people after that.
04:04But also the people who have lost people within that. I think a lot of attention can go to the people who have been lost but the impact that that has on everybody else and the people who are silent but suffering.
04:18This is more than us but we are just silent.
04:21If you'd like to get involved you can come and join us for an hour and do one of our hours with us on the 8th to the 9th. You can come at 3 o'clock in the morning if you really want to.
04:30But yeah we'd be grateful if anyone wants to come along. You don't even have to join in. Just come in and support us. See us as our big sweaty messes we will be.
04:39See us struggling.
04:41Donation link as well and all of the funds go to Andy's Men's Club and mine so we'll be splitting that 50-50 too.
04:49We're thinking about how people can help the movement and how they can help. Obviously we've said raise money, we've said get involved but also just be nice to the people around you.
05:01Your smile could make that one person's day.
05:04Yeah.
05:04Okay see you on the flip side.
05:07See you on the 8th.