Preston North End sports scientist Luke Hemmings' mammoth Everest challenge nears its end after £7,500 raised so far

Hemmings, 28, has set out to scale the equivalent of Mount Everest three times over the course of three days, starting on Monday. But what do you do when you don’t want to waste fundraising money on costs for the fundraising itself? You bring Everest to you.

Without an obvious alternative, Hemmings looked close to home for a way of taking on his huge challenge, so he’s been going up and down the steps at Deepdale, 295 times each day.

He’s been sclaing the steps of the Alan Kelly Town End in 16 hour stints on both Monday and Wednesday so far, walking through the night and he will finish his challenge on Saturday, though the final climb will begin around 4pm on Friday, raising money for Dementia UK.

Hemmings told the Lancashire Post: "It started a while ago, I was watching a programme with a guy who had climbed the highest mountains in the world and it breaks it down with the costs, he had to raise millions. I thought what could I do that is similar and cost effective for the charity? The last fundraiser I did cost about £10,000 because we had to cover the cost of fuel, the campervan and food while we were away. I wanted to keep the expenses as low as possible so I could raise more.

"I got thinking about covering the height of Everest because on the documentary he spoke about it being the highest and the most difficult. Deepdale was close to home and there are lights for when I'm doing it through the night, one thing about my last event was that we finished in Dover.

"It's something I was questioning myself on when I was about 200 in, I was wondering why I'd said I'd do it three times! I've said I'm going to do it, so I'll do it.

"If I'm completely honest, I did the maths a bit wrong! When I first worked it out it didn't sound that impressive so I said I'd do it three times. When I realised, I realised it was going to be tough.

"It's something you can't train for, you don't have the time. Monday took me 16 hours, you don't have that time to cover that.”

In a challenge that is obviously extremely difficult, learning what makes it easier as you go along is vital. So far, Hemmings has learned to have a bit more help, company and use walking poles.

It’s been a battle between the mind and the body, with day one taking 16-and-a-half hours and day two taking 19 hours to scale the equivalent of Everest in PR1

“There's a couple of new things that I've adopted from the first day, I now use walking poles for on the way down because I was in a bad, bad way. More mentally than anything, I was in a really bad place.

"We've looked at what I can do differently and I've been lucky enough to have my brother get involved and he's been helping, whether it's fetching something or counting and it's helped massively. I had no one with me on the first day, I had someone with me through the night but it was just me on my own. I've learnt off the Monday and I go again on Friday.

"I've learnt not to be controlled by time and that pressure, you need as little stress as possible.

“The mental side, there are so many challenges that you don't think of before. One of the biggest challenges I've found so far is finishing, going home and then you feel like you can't enjoy being at home because you've got to go and do it again.

"I'd say, at the moment, it's been 60% mental and 40% physical but if you'd have asked me on day one I'd have said 80% mental and 20% physical. It's purely because of the DOMS (delayed onset of muscle soreness), I got out of bed on Wednesday and I thought I couldn't move. You're just in a bad headspace.

"I've had no blisters but serious DOMS in my calves and my quads, out of 10, the pain has been eight or nine. They've felt like concrete.

"It's about getting over that though because the human body is unbelievable in the things you can achieve, it's just about not being in your head. It's not a natural movement to be going up and down the stairs all the time.”

This is not Hemmings’ first foray into the world of extreme challenges to raise money for charity, having done so in 2018. He covered 1,200 miles in three weeks, riding from John O’Groats to Lands on his bicycle. Immediately after, he continued on from Land’s End to Dover on foot, covering a further 356 miles, taking part in 14 marathons in 14 days.

So far for his Everest climb, he’s raised over £7,500 and had a bit of help along the way from his PNE colleagues and also his grandfather’s foundation.

“I'm really pleased,” Hemmings said on the money raised so far. “There was a huge £5,000 come in from the Trevor Hemmings Foundation which was a massive boost going into the first day, then the donations that have come through whilst I've been streaming it live on Instagram have been massive for me. That's pushed me up to £7,500.

"Something that was disheartening going in was that I'd set a target of £10,000 and I didn't think it was achievable, now I'm looking at it and thinking I can keep it open, do a couple of fundraisers and get it up to £10,000.

"A couple of the lads from the squad have donated and loads of them have been jumping on the live. I was eating a tuna buttie on the first day when Browney (Alan Browne) joined and it helps massively just having a bit of banter. Whitey (Ben Whiteman) was getting stuck into me as well and it was a definite help.”