24hr squashathon for Charity

There are easier ways to raise money for charity. You could do a sponsored walk, organise a raffle, bake an alarming number of cakes, or sit in a bath of beans if you really wanted to go old school.

Or, you could play squash for 24 hours.

At 6pm on Friday 9 October, three members of the Devon squash community will step onto a glass-back court and begin a challenge that is ambitious, exhausting and, somewhere around 4am, will probably start to feel like a truly dreadful life choice.

The target is £10,000, with the money split between three charities that are all incredibly close to the group’s hearts: Alzheimer’s Research UK, Devon Air Ambulance and Crohn’s & Colitis UK.

Each charity has a very personal reason for being involved. Dan is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Exeter, where his work focuses on neurodegenerative diseases. His research is directly funded by Alzheimer’s Research UK, so he has seen first-hand the impact the charity has and the importance of the research it supports. He has been a long-time supporter of ARUK and sees the challenge as an opportunity to give something back to an organisation that has had a direct influence on his work.

Kate works as a Data Manager for Devon Air Ambulance, a charity providing life-saving emergency care across the county. The service is funded entirely through charitable donations and is one that has had an impact on all of their lives. When an emergency happens in a rural part of Devon, getting specialist care to somebody quickly can make all the difference, and the work Devon Air Ambulance carries out every day is only possible because people continue to support it.

The third charity is Crohn’s & Colitis UK. One of the trio was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis in December 2020, right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is hardly the ideal time to find yourself in hospital having all manner of tests carried out. Ulcerative Colitis is a form of Inflammatory Bowel Disease and is a lifelong condition with no known cause and currently no cure. Crohn’s & Colitis UK provides information, support and a voice for people living with IBD, helping people navigate what can be an incredibly difficult and uncertain diagnosis.

With the causes chosen, all that remained was deciding how to raise the money. Naturally, somebody looked at squash — a sport already famous for being physically unforgiving — and decided the obvious answer was to keep playing it for an entire day.

The challenge starts at 6pm on Friday 9 October. Their club has kindly donated the use of its glass-back show court and will be helping to spread the word among members. Friday evening will begin with a mini box league, giving club players the chance to get involved, share some court time and, crucially, provide the three challengers with fresh legs to play against while theirs are still vaguely functioning.

Then everybody sensible will go home.

The squash will continue through the night, with the hope that people finishing late shifts or starting early ones might appear at some ungodly hour for a game. By 3 or 4am, anybody walking through the door with a racket may receive the sort of welcome normally reserved for a rescue helicopter.

Saturday morning does not get any easier. The club’s junior session will become a Beat The Adults challenge, with some of the club’s talented juniors getting the chance to take them on. Under normal circumstances that would be dangerous enough. After 14 or 15 hours of squash, the adults may discover that “using experience” largely consists of standing somewhere near the T and hoping the youngster eventually makes a mistake.

The organisers have already admitted the juniors are likely to run rings around them. That may be understating it. By that stage, a particularly energetic twelve-year-old could look like prime Nicol David.

If there is anything left in the tank by the final hours, the plan is to finish with some doubles. Twenty-four hours into a squash challenge, this may be less about tactical awareness and more about having somebody else cover three-quarters of the court while you quietly negotiate with your hamstrings.

At 6pm on Saturday 10 October, though, the challenge will be complete.

And while 24 hours of squash is undeniably tough, physically and mentally, those taking part are very clear about why they are doing it. A long night on court is difficult, but it is nothing compared with the work these three charities do every day, or the challenges faced by the people who rely on them.

That is also why the £10,000 target matters. It is a big number, and deliberately so. Split between Alzheimer’s Research UK, Devon Air Ambulance and Crohn’s & Colitis UK, it could make a genuine difference by helping fund research, emergency care and support for people living with lifelong disease.

Squash clubs have always had a strong sense of community, and this challenge has already shown that. The club has donated the court, members are getting involved, local supporters are helping to spread the word and businesses are backing the event. Now the hope is that the wider squash community can help push the fundraising total towards that £10,000 goal.

You do not need to play for 24 hours to help. You do not even need to play squash. Donating, sharing the fundraiser or simply sending it to somebody who may want to support one of the charities all helps.

A few pounds here and there soon becomes hundreds, hundreds become thousands, and suddenly £10,000 starts to look a little less ridiculous.

If you would like to support the 24 Hour Squashathon, you can donate here:

https://www.givewheel.com/fundraising/20840/24-hour-squashathon/

Three brilliant charities, one very ambitious target and 24 hours of squash.

At OLIVER, we think it is an incredible effort and we would love to see the squash community get behind it.

And if you happen to be awake at 4am on Saturday morning with a racket nearby, they may be very pleased to see you.