Taking place on Saturday 22 April, the workout has been organised by gym goer Simon Colvin, 41, from Wareham, whose son Shaun, age 12, was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2015, two weeks before his fifth birthday.

Shaun underwent brain surgery to relieve the pressure and reroute the fluid around the tumour. Thankfully his tumour is benign, so it should not spread to other parts of the body. But he will no doubt face obstacles in the future and will have to endure further treatment. 

“With careful monitoring Shaun’s prognosis is good but sadly this is not always the case,” said Simon. “Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, yet one per cent of the national spend on cancer research is allocated to this disease (braintumourresearch.org). 

“This fills me with fear. And that is why since his diagnosis I have been raising funds for this very worthy charity by undertaking a number of triathlons. Shaun even took on his own child friendly triathlon in 2021. He started school with a diagnosis and ended it smashing his goal.”

The 24-hour challenge will involve a CrossFit workout every hour, starting on the hour, from 8am. Workouts will vary from short and intense to long and endurance based, and will all be planned by Collective Conditioning’s head coach Nick Rouse.

Nick said: “We are absolutely buzzing for this challenge. We’ve got so many members who want to take part and some are going for one or two workouts, but we’ve got a big number of people who are going to be taking part for the whole 24-hours, which I’m going to try and do myself.

“Our gym is all about community, so when Simon asked if we could host this event – we wanted to get on board. We undoubtedly want to support him, his family and his fundraising efforts for a very worthy cause to help the battle against cancer.” 

Simon added: “It’s going to be an incredibly tough challenge, but not as tough as the lives of those affected by a brain tumour. 

“There will be many children and families who face this terrifying disease, and we hope this contribution, will give hope to all brain tumour patients. All donations will make such a difference.”

Other fitness fanatics are welcome to come along and help the battle against cancer at Collective Conditioning, located at 26 Balena Close, Creekmoor BH17 7EB. A small donation of £10 is required on the day either online via Simon’s JustGiving page or cash in person to take part in the workouts.  

Anyone is welcome to come and watch the challenge in action. There will be a raffle on the day with some amazing prizes for just £1 a ticket, all going to The Brain Tumour Charity. 

To support the cause and make a donation, please visit Simon’s Justgiving page at www.justgiving.com/simon-colvin3  

For more information about taking part in the event, contact Collective Conditioning via a direct message on Instagram. Just search @collectiveconditioning.