Kirkcaldy Rugby Club father and son’s 24-hour charity challenge

Former player and board member Stuart Oliver and U15 player son Murray spent and entire day performing a series of workouts – and smashed their target in the process.

Stuart said: Murray (15) and his brother Euan (12) normally organise a charity coffee morning at the rugby club every year with the money going to local charities.

“This year Murray said we should think about organising something else because obviously with COVID-19 we can’t do something like the coffee morning so he came up with this challenge.

“One of the ex-Scotland rugby players Mark Robertson had done something similar so Murray decided that he was going to do that and the money would go to the Cottage Centre, Maggie’s Fife and the rugby club.”

At the start of the outbreak Stuart had put together a small gym in his garage which was where he and Murray – who works as the rugby club’s social media officer – undertook the gruelling 24-hour marathon.

“We started the challenge at 8 o’clock on Saturday morning, that was the first session we did, then we did one an hour, on the hour right through until 7am on Sunday. That was the last one.”

Each session would last between 10-30 minutes and Stuart said the challenge got tougher as it went on.

“It was pretty tiring! It started off not too bad but as the day goes on you get a bit more tired.

“The time just seems to fly by. You have a workout, have a wee stretch, cool down, come back in the house, have a snack and then it was the next one coming up.

“It was quite a nice night but during the night it was difficult, just dealing with sleep deprivation.

“Going through the workouts they just seemed to get harder. I don’t know if they were, but they just seemed to be!”

The pair shared the challenge online with some of the club’s player joining in and Stuart said they’d hoped to raise £500 through a Go Fund Me page.

“It’s currently at £2200,” he said, adding he was “amazed” at the response.

“People have been so generous, through the rugby club itself, then wider friends and family.

“It’s been great to see.”