Stephen Hetherington and Raymond Orr canoeing 50km for charity as part of their 50-50-50 chellenge
TWO Fivemiletown men have proved that age is just a number by completing a challenge of canoeing 50km, cycling 50 miles and lifting 50,000kg of weights all in the one day.
Raymond Orr and Stephen Hetherington set the challenge for themselves to prove despite being 50 years old this year, they could do anything they set themselves.
Their challenge started out as just that, a challenge to themselves, but then became a fundraising event in aid of MS Fermanagh and the Macmillan Cancer Support.
Twelve months of hard work, which included canoeing on Lough Erne over the winter when even the wildlife had deserted the area.
Under the guidance of Elaine Alexander (who had canoed around Ireland) from the Share Centre, they developed the endurance to complete the task.
Raymond said: “Without the training over the winter in the canoe, I would not have been able to go such a distance. On my first day out, the waves were higher than I was comfortable with, fortunately on the day there was little wind and the Lough was like glass”.
Using the Share Centre as their staging point, the pair canoed around Crom Castle and Knockninney, doing three laps to make up the 50 km, taking 6 1/2 hours.
“After 12 miles in the canoe, I thought we were in trouble,” said Stephen, “the shoulders were sore and my arms were starting to hurt, but we just thought of those who have MS or Cancer and they don’t have the choice of stopping and making the pain disappear, this drove us on.”
Their two lap cycle took them into Derrylin and back over Carrybridge and into Lisnaskea. Having completed the cycle and canoeing they took themselves to Total Rebuild Gym in Lisnaskea, where under the guidance of James Gallagher, the pair completed a circuit of nine different exercises to lift a total of 50,000kg each.
The exercises included bench press, squats, shoulder press and dips. “Getting enough calories into your body to keep going was important,” said Stephen, “you had to be careful not to eat something your body couldn’t handle as you were doing the particular activity.”
“With the help and advice from Nutrition Plus in Cookstown, who sponsored us, we were able to get enough to survive mainly on energy drinks.”
In the end the pair lifted their 50,000kg in just under one hour, taking a total of 12 hours 20 minutes to complete their challenge.
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