The community of Blackwater and Central Highlands in Queensland raised just over $5500 for the most number of burpees (squat thrust) in one hour as well as awareness in the prevention of suicides for the Black Dog Institute in its fight for mental health awareness.
This fundraising event was the brainchild of Sarah O’Brien from the Black Iron Gym who was concerned by the alarming rate of male suicides.
“I wanted to find a way to support the prevention of suicide and just needed something to spark it off. One day I walked into the functional training room and noticed Quinton, a local PE teacher, who competes in Australian and world championships in Spartan races,” she said.
Quinton’s score on the board was 1000 burpees in 1 hour 32 minutes.
“When I saw this, I did some research on the current world record and I knew Quinton could crack this. It was the attraction I was looking for to fundraise for the Black Dog Institute,” Sarah said.
“We spent six weeks training for it. The current Guinness World Record for the most chest to ground burpees in one hour was 851.”
Quinton’s final count was 810 burpees in one hour – just 42 burpees short of the world record.
Local school students, residents, and the teams from North Blackwater General Practice and Black Iron Gym supported the fundraising event with donations.
“Quinton was amazing! He said he’s never experienced pain like that in any of his sporting events, ever. But he said he was keen to give it another go one day soon.”