The ‘1 million PressUps4Parkinson’s’ challenge inspires the community

Richard Longthorp’s desire to collectively reach 1 million press-ups in aid of Parkinson’s fell slightly short, however the ex-farmer believes the bigger picture presents a roaring success.

Longthorp, who lives with the disease, united an online community to record one million press-ups throughout January 2025. With no fundraising tool to collate the data and some participants’ lapses in recording, Richard estimates that 774,000 press-ups were achieved in total.

Whilst some might have been disheartened, Richard believes the challenge was a success – evidenced by the fundraising total currently standing at £18,500.

“The one million press-ups were a figure to capture people’s imaginations. Far more important to me was the response we got from the people who were able to do it.

“There was one boy, aged six or seven, who was incredible. His mum said he can struggle to concentrate on things but with this challenge, he has been totally focused. He’s also raised £300 in sponsorship.

“It has been heartwarming to see so many people with smiles on their faces.

“If I had the option of one million press-ups but nobody enjoying it, or 750,000 and people enjoying it, continuing to do it and happy with their personal achievements, I’d take the latter all day long.”

Incredibly, 10,000 press-ups were achieved by Richard himself across a marathon 24-hour period, hosted at St Paul’s Boxing Academy – where the fundraiser attends Parkinson’s boxing sessions. Richard chuckles about the experience but admits it was tough:

“It went terribly! The first five to six thousand were, not a breeze, but not a problem either. The last two thousand were so difficult, though.

“I chose to do sets of 20 on the minute, every minute. As the period went on this dropped to 15 and then to 10.

“I didn’t sleep as it was a 24-hour challenge. As soon as my wife picked me up, I was out like a light. It was worthwhile, though and I achieved the 10,000.

“If anyone else is thinking of doing 10,000 press-ups in 24 hours my piece of advice would be don’t! I’m very appreciative, though. A lot of people came along. Thank you.”

Richard wasn’t alone for the marathon, as local media BBC Look North and Hull-born London 2012 Olympic gold medallist, Luke Campbell, were in attendance to help kick things off.

St Paul’s Head Coach, Mike Bromby was with Richard throughout the effort whilst friends and supporters dipped in and out during the small hours of the morning. His daughter and grandson arrived at 5 am to rally him home in the final hours.

Richard is planning future fundraising challenges but is unsure what the next one will entail:

“I’m impulsive. If I spend too long thinking about something it doesn’t tend to work but, if I suddenly have an idea, I just want to get on with it.

“I would like it to become an annual thing but in what form yet I’m unsure. For now, I just want to reinforce my appreciation to everyone involved in this and reiterate the importance of personal achievements.

“For years people were chasing the four-minute mile. A man finally broke it and then, soon after, others broke it as well.

“Until it was broken, people thought it was impossible. So it’s all about pushing our personal boundaries.”

Richard plans on donating part of the total raised to Parkinson’s UK to use on the new England Boxing Coaching People with Parkinson’s Course. The other half will go to the clubs which participated in the mammoth challenge to use for their community programmes.

The GoFundMe page for this challenge is still live and you can learn more and donate by clicking here.

Click here to learn more about Richard’s 2024 challenge, which raised an astonishing £22,000.