Pete's First Blog

Raising The Titanic

For those who know me and have had to endure me wittering on about Raising The Titanic,im sorry. For those die hard Titanic movie fans, I'm not referring to the physically raising theTitanic In an attempt to find that giant diamond thing!

This charity event is the brain child of a friend who decided to put his powerlifting skills to charitable use and lift a weight for a period of time to raise money for Macmillman Cancer Support Charity.

I'm not too sure if Scott had been high on jelly babies at the time , but when it came to setting the amount of weight needed to be lifted, he set the bar incredibly high, or in this case 12,500 ft under water!

The Titanic!!!!! All 2.4 million KG's of it will be attempted to be lifted in a 15 hour window!!

Now I can hear you out there reading through my blog whilst trying to count on your fingers and fathom how this will be done, let me tell you;

Firstly we have from 8am - midnight to complete

We are using a team of lifters to "deadlift" a multitude of bars of varying weight (50kg through to 200kg)

The amount of reps & the weights will be totalled at the end in an attempt to have lifted the weight equivalent of the Titanic.

If we reach our goal, then we will have set a new world record.

As you can tell this is a mammoth task and will be a horrid endurance event. Within the first week of setting the event up on Facebook, we hit 3k audience and have support all round the world from powerlifting athletes to work colleges. The day is going to be huge.

Now when I approached Scott he was more than happy to have me aboard and I became one of the event organisers along with Sean.

Between the three of us we set about hounding local and national businesses from protein supplement companies right the way through to a bread factory. We had carried out radio and newspaper interviews including cringe photos with my dad squeezing my bicep in some bizarre request made by a photographer.

In the end we realised that the weeks leading up to the event will be a logistical challenge, but one we were prepared to do.

The Charity

So what is the charity we were deadlifting for?

Macmillan Cancer Support. A superb charity that provides nurses to people suffering and dealing with this horrible disease.

Not only do they provide care within ones own home but they offer that welcomed rest bite for partners and families who are spending every waking minute caring for their loved one. They provide reassurance, medical care and are just a team of amazing people.

Why Macmillan For Me

When I found out from Scott what he wanted to do and who for I didn't event hesitate in lending an helping hand. I was already on that phone hassling him to let me help.

My motivation is my mum and dad. Like many others my family has been affected by cancer. In my case it was 5 years ago when my old man was diagnosed with throat cancer and our worlds got turned upside down and inside out

After gruelling treatment and intrusive operations my father could no longer eat without being peg fed, he couldn't talk as the operation left one of his two vocal cords paralysed and he was losing weight at a rapid weight.

With all this going on we rallied as a family and I often watched in awe as my mum would care and treat my dad working on next to no sleep but providing that constant love and care. She is an amazingly strong woman!!

Macmillan Cancer Support were quickly on the scene. They would attend and give my mum a break as they carried out the care, they would laugh and joke with my dad even though he couldn't talk, but he would raise a smile. They even provided advice and guidance on financial support and what my parents were entitled too, but most importantly they were there for us.

5 years later my dad is waiting for the confirmation that he beat Cancer!!!

He can talk once again after an amazing operation. He's put his weight back on......maybe a little bit too much if you ask my mum and more importantly we are a happy little family once again and we can thank Macmillan for their help.

This is my motivation in not only helping organise this event, but in smashing it on the day and lifting until I can't lift no more!!!