Toughing It Out

Brother-in-law team take on Tough Mudder for Bury Hospice

Anthony Hollis and brother-in-law, Matthew Johnson, have signed up to take on Tough Mudder on Saturday, 13^th July, at Heaton Park.

Tough Mudder consists of a series of hard-core obstacle courses that are designed to test all round strength, stamina and mental grit.

The gruelling challenges test the physicality of the millions of participants who take part in them worldwide.

Anthony, who has a fundraising target of £350, said: “I signed up because my wife’s grandparents were in the hospice over the last few years.”

“I've wanted to raise money for a while and then when this opportunity came up, I jumped on it.”

Training has been going well for Anthony who joined the gym at the start of the year. His focus has been mostly on strength training and although, having never been much of a runner, he has had to throw running into the training mix.

He said: “I’ve been doing a couple of 5k runs over the last few weeks. With the first one I thought ‘what have I let myself in for?’ – it was honestly horrendous, but then each one has just got better and better, and as mad as it sounds, I’ve starting to enjoy it a bit now.”

Having watched a few Tough Mudder videos on YouTube, Anthony admits that the upcoming course, will be “a lot tougher than I first thought,” but he knows that “it's all about raising money and turning up and doing your best.”

Matthew Johnson, Anthony’s brother-in-law and training partner, has always wanted to compete in Tough Mudder – therefore doing so, in support of the hospice was perfect for him.

Matthew goes to the gym each day after work, focusing mainly on weight training but also doing cardio to build up enough stamina to get through the 10k.

Bury Hospice is a cause that’s very close to Matthew’s heart, as his grandads, Kev and Harry, were looked after here in their final days.

Matthew said: “I’m doing the course in memory of my grandparents. I enjoy a physical challenge and I want to raise money for Bury Hospice.”

“It truly is a brilliant hospice, yet it needs all the help possible when it comes to funding so that it can keep giving this amazing care.”

“I want to make people aware of the amazing work Bury Hospice does supporting ill people by making them comfortable at the end of their life.”

Matthew is looking forward to completing the Tough Mudder course with Anthony.

He said: “Even when it comes to training – I've been out running on my own and I've been out running with other people and it always helps being with someone because you're pushing each other along rather than just overthinking it.”

Matthew hopes he’ll surpass his target of raising £350 for the hospice.

“I’ll try my best to raise as much as I can,” he said.

Bury Hospice relies on the fundraising efforts of our supporters, please donate to support Matthew and Anthony if you can by heading here:

Matthew's fundraiser for Bury Hospice: https://www.justgiving.com/page/matthew-johnson-1712931609397

Anthony's fundraiser for Bury Hospice: https://www.justgiving.com/page/anthony-hollis-1712931324521