Blackpool commando completes epic Everest stair climb

Matthew Disney completing his heroic step climb equivalent to the height of Everest

He was doing it to commemorate the death of Marine comrade Darren "Daz" Smith from Fleetwood who was killed in Afghanistan ten years ago to the day. And he smashed it - beating his time target by an hour.

Matthew said: "Afterwards, I felt like a physically broken man. I thought countless times, ‘What am I doing, the challenge is insane’.

"My whole body was screaming out at me. I started getting cramp jolts firing up my front thighs at around 24,000 steps, that then lead me to having to do a routine of 10 minutes climbing and two minutes break.

"I also started holding the bars on the machine. I had always thought I would even crawl up the machine if I have to, to complete this challenge as it means so much to me because of the loss of Daz.

"At the end of the challenge it was a battle between my wrists and palms or my quads of which was the most hurting body parts, even though the list of other parts that were in agony is too long to list. On completion it had taken me physically eight hours and 58 minutes climb the height of Everest 58,070 steps in height. I couldn’t have been happier that it was all over.

"My next challenge is to run 100 miles on a treadmill in preparation to run four marathons back to back outside. The longest distance I’ve ever done so far is the 30 miler which is the final of four Royal Marine Commando Tests to complete."

He chose Valentine’s Day for the challenge as that was the day fellow Marine Darren “Daz” Smith from Fleetwood was killed by a Taliban bullet in 2009 while they were serving in Afghanistan.

Matthew was supporting Rock2Recovery, a charity that helps all soldiers, serving and veterans, that suffer post traumatic stress disorder and are on the brink of suicide, and The Royal Marines Charity, which helps both serving service people and veterans and their families in hard times.

He had help from Karl Etherington and Joseph Nicholson of Universe Gym at the Bloomfield Road football stadium.

To support Matthew’s efforts visit justgiving.com/crowdfunding/disneyfitnesschallenges or visit his Facebook page at Facebook.com/LordDisneyRM