Victory squadron Sailors Take on PT challenge for fellow sailor

Sailors from Victory Squadron, HMS Collingwood, have spent 2 days taking part in a variety of sporting challenges to help raise funds for Lieutenant Paul Killpartrick.

Paul, who until recently served at the Fareham establishment, was very sadly diagnosed with an incurable brain cancer and needs to raise £100,000 to undergo life extending treatment which is no

t available on the NHS.

The PT Challenge was chosen as a suitable way for the sailors to raise money for this very worthy cause. In collaboration with the Physical Training staff (PTIs) at the site, they came up with a plan, lasting 16 hours – 8 hours each day – to ‘Lift CWD (1882) (the former ship) weighing 9,500 tonnes and to ‘run to the Emirates stadium’, where Paul’s favourite football team, Arsenal, play.

To meet the lift target participants had to conduct bench presses, squats and deadlifts. For the run the distance of 98 miles was achieved by all involved running a mile.

On the initiative to organise this event, Engineering Technician (ET) Meghan Cuthbert of Victory Squadron said “The news of Lt Paul Killpartrick is devastating, a fellow sailor who has dedicated 21 years serving his country in the Royal Navy, a son, husband, father and friend. We wanted to make the biggest impact we can in trying to reach the goal required for this life extending treatment.”

LPT Lee Owens, who was heavily involved in organising the event, was thrilled with how it all went. “HMS Collingwood managed to lift over 1,118,503KG and run 103 miles in the 16 hour period.  The total amount raised was £663.16 across Victory Squadron and HMS COLLINGWOOD SARC. This was great effort from everyone involved.”