Mark’s 30 Day Challenge
One of our incredible supporters Mark, Southern Motor Contracts Limited Managing Director, took on a gruelling 30 Day Challenge to raise funds for the Rowans Hospice Charity. Mark took on a different challenge each day set by his colleagues. We have really enjoyed following Mark’s journey and seeing the crazy challenges he took on – some of them looked incredibly tough! We asked Mark how he came up with the brilliant idea of doing a 30 day challenge, Mark told us that he knew he wanted to complete more than one challenge so he decided to have his colleagues create a whole month’s worth which kept him very busy throughout November. We also asked Mark why he chose to support the Rowans Hospice Charity, and he told us the Charity is close to a few of his colleague’s hearts and he wanted to give something back to them. Mark pushed himself throughout the month and nailed all of the challenges that he had set, one of our favourites to watch was the Bush Tucker Trial on day 16, Mark ate a pot of locusts and mealworms!
Mark’s favourite challenge was ‘Be a target’ – Mark stood in a pair of shorts whilst staff threw any food/drink of their choice at him! “I don’t know why I enjoyed it, it was nice to give something back to the staff.” Mark went on to tell us that his least favourite challenge was day 28 ‘Swim in the sea.’ Mark felt like he underachieved as he was too cold to swim the distance he had planned – we think it was brave to even go in the sea in November! Another question we asked Mark was, what did you find the hardest? Mark answered by saying he found the bike ride and the long walk very tough. On day 27 Mark rode on a static bike from 9am – 5pm with only a 5 minute break each hour and 20 minutes for a sandwich at 1pm and on day 13 Mark completed ‘Walkathon’ where he walked for 12 hours! Mark completed both of these with no training at all. We went on to ask Mark which challenge he wouldn’t do again, he told us he didn’t enjoy the roly-poly challenge on day 6. The challenge was to roly-poly around a whole football pitch, this took Mark 45 minutes and he felt very sick afterwards – we aren’t surprised! Mark received a lot of support from those around him, he told us he is very grateful to his colleagues for creating the films and social media posts and to his family who dealt with him being a little on the grumpy side at the weekends! Finally, Mark gave his advice for anyone looking to take on a fundraising challenge, ‘Push yourself and enjoy it!’
Mark has hinted he may take on another fundraising challenge in the future, he told us he would like to train properly to take on a winter swim which would be very brave! We wish you the best of luck Mark!
Thank you so much Mark and to everyone who supported him along the way and those who donated. Your support means Mark has raised an incredible current total of £5230 for Rowans Hospice Charity and the future of local Hospice care.
Below is a full list of the Challenges Mark took on, if you would like to see the full videos, please head over to Southern Motor Contracts Instagram page @motorent
Marks 30 Day Challenge:
Day 1 – Be a target – Mark stood in a pair of shorts whilst staff threw any food/drink of their choice at him.
Day 2 – Ghost Chilli! – Mark ate a Ghost Chilli!!
Day 3 – Office Apprentice – Mark did all the jobs everyone put to the bottom of the pile.. whether it was filing or cleaning the toilet, Mark did whatever was asked of him.
Day 4 – 300 press ups in 90 minutes – it was going to be 120 mins, but Mark wanted to push it!
Day 5 – Raw eggs – Mark drank a pint of raw eggs.
Day 6 – Roly poly time – Mark roly-poly-ied all the way around the outside of a full-sized football pitch.
Day 7 – Home yes day – Marks daughter always wanted a yes day, so she got one! Mark was bossed around the house by his daughter.
Day 8 – Get the legs ready – Mark had a full leg wax!
Day 9 – Burpees – Mark completed 300 burpees in 120 minutes.
Day 10 – Ladies’ day – Mark dressed like a lady for the day, make-up included.
Day 11 – Hungry? – Mark completely fasted for 24 hours, no food or drink!
Day 12 – Work yes day – Mark couldn’t say no for the day at work!
Day 13 – Walkathon – Mark completed a 12 hour walk.
Day 14 – Hula Hoop – Mark exercised with a hula hoop for 25 minutes.
Day 15 – Car Walk – Mark pulled a car (plus one small driver) for 250 metres.
Day 16 – Bushtucker Trial – Mark ate some locusts and mealworms!
Day 17 – Cake time – Mark baked the staff a cake.
Day 18 – Dizzee Penalties
Day 19 – Stilton – A whole block of stilton was consumed with no break, and only water and a bucket!
Day 20 – Long run – Without any training, Mark completed a 20k (12.5 mile) run.
Day 21 – Ice bath – Mark had a 10 minute ice bath!
Day 22 – Bare Foot – For 24 hours Mark had no shoes or socks.
Day 23 – Silence – Mark couldn’t speak for 24 hours.
Day 24 – Volunteer – Mark donated food to Beacon FoodBank and toys to QA Hospital.
Day 25 – No phone or emails for 24 hours.
Day 26 – Staff Cars – Mark cleaned all the staff cars.
Day 27 – Long ride – On a static bike, Mark rode from 9.00am – 5.00pm only with a 5 minute break each hour and 20 minutes for a sandwich at 1.00pm!
Day 28 – Swim in the sea – Mark swam in the freezing sea.
Day 29 – Clean customers’ cars – for a donation to charity, Mark hoovered and washed customers’ cars!
Day 30 – Relief – Mark donated a very generous £100.00 to the Charity for everyone who looked after him after a tough month!