A 24-hour challenge carried out by a professional boxer from Douglas has raised more than £2,000 for charity.

Danny Roberts surpassed his target amount of £1,000 for Huntington’s Disease Isle of Man after 24 hours of continuous battle ropes, planking, squats and other exercises.

The 28-year-old received support throughout his efforts with about 60 people turning up in the last two hours to encourage him.

’I was so overwhelmed with it.

’The support was non-stop as someone was always there to push me on,’ he said.

’It was quite emotional at the end.

’After the 24 hours was up I just collapsed and hit the floor.’

Danny Kane, a trainer at Next Level Fitness in Onchan, Joe Kane and Danny Cretney were always on hand to add encouragement and maintain his energy levels.

During feeding times, the boxer would continue on a static bike with someone bringing him food and water.

He said: ’At 3am, one of the lads had to put a baby wipe on my face because I started to doze off while doing side raises.’

His friend, Mr Kane, told the Manx Independent on the day: ’Danny came to us a couple of weeks before with the idea of what he was going to do.

’He’s trained a few times here with me and we took him up on that.

’Honestly, I didn’t think it was possible, but he’s four hours in and he’s looking pretty fresh.

’It’s going to be a long day for me as well, but nothing compared to what he’s going to do.’

Next Level Fitness has supported other causes in the past, with the most recent fundraiser being bootcamps in aid of mental health charity Reach IOM.

’We like doing a lot for charity,’ Mr Kane said.

’It’s just good to give back and we have the facilities and the knowledge to put something together quite easily.’

The aim of the challenge was to also raise awareness of the genetic disease. The boxer sadly lost his nana to Huntington’s and recently found out that his mother had been diagnosed with it.

He’s been pleased with the response as many people have donated and contacted him about the disease.

For more details on his efforts, search: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/danielroberts24hr?