A Darwen firefighter who completed a 24-hour deadlifting challenge to raise money for The Fire Fighters charity has finished, lifting over 478,000kg.

Glen Bailey attempted to lift a total of 600,000kg across a 24-hour period in his bid to beat the previous world record 580,220kg.

Glen deadlifted from 10am on Sunday, January 7, until 10am on Monday, January 8, having only had short breaks every hour to take in food and water.

Despite the marathon weightlifting effort, he missed out on claiming a Guinness world record by 100 tonnes

The firefighter works for Mitie Emergency Response Service and is an on-call firefighter at Darwen Fire Station.

The 42-year-old started strongman training more than 15 years ago.

Lancashire Telegraph:

He said: "I feel good. There was a point where I started to feel a little bit negative but I've come back around again now and I'm feeling alright.

"I think the cold got to me so I changed my attire a little bit and I feel good now.

"You go through stages and it's more of a mental thing. You get a niggly pain and I think your brain exaggerates it and makes it worse."

Glen is raising money for two causes - The Fire Fighters Charity and for his friend and former colleague Clint Grieves, who became paralysed after an accident at home.

He said: "I've seen first-hand the work the charity does, not for myself but for my friends and colleagues. They help firefighters past and present and their families as well. They're a fantastic charity.

"Clint had a life-changing accident, he fell down the stairs at home and broke his neck, so it's to help with his rehab. Because of Covid, a lot of his rehab got shut down and it hampered his recovery."

"Whether [I got] the record or not I'll be there at the whistle at the end, which is the main thing. To finish first, first you've got to finish."

Glen is performing the world record attempt at SAS Gym in Leyland.

Lancashire Telegraph: The current record for the 24hr Deadlift Guinness World Record (total weight deadlifted in a 24hr period by a single person) is 580,220kg.

They posted on Facebook and said: "It was an emotional end to the challenge when Harry, Glen's son, joined in the last 10 minutes in support of his dad, deadlifting 20kg in time with him.

"[The] total lifted [was] 478,139.6kg. Whilst it is under the world record, in all our eyes he is a champ!"