The equivalent of 29 elephants, or 17 double-decker buses, was lifted by members of Canterbury’s local American football team, the East Kent Mavericks, as part of a sponsored ‘lift-a-thon’ on Saturday at Kingsmead Leisure centre. The event was closely monitored by the helpful members of staff in the fitness centre and was attended by the Lord Mayor and her family.The players took it in turn to bench-press 50kg, or seven and a half stone, as many times as they could in an hour to raise money for the Lady Mayoress’ charity- The Footlights Trust and the East Kent Mavericks youth team.

Their target was to beat a rival American football team’s total of 39,800kg and they smashed this with ease.In an hour the thirteen players managed to press 116,200kg or 2324 repetitions.Two of the top performers included the veteran Michael ‘Buster’ Keefe with 403 reps and local musician and Great Britain American football player Dudley Ross with 344 reps.

 

East Kent Mavericks chairman Glenn Lindley said of the team’s performance “the players put in a great performance today and all the hard work they have put in at the gym for the current season has clearly paid off.”  He went on to add “the team are really proud of their achievements and also for raising money for a worth-while charity like The Footlight Trust.” Paul Sharp, one of the participating players and organiser, said “we would like to thank Fran Pike and the Kingsmead Leisure centre for allowing us to stage our ‘lift-a-thon’ in their weights room. We are also very grateful to the Lord Mayor for attending our event and supporting our team.

It is clear there is a great spirit amongst our team with everyone encouraging the lifter from beginning to end, and if we can carry this mentality on hopefully we can make it to the play-offs.” The East Kent Mavericks have almost reached the end of their regular season, with their play-off aspirations placed on beating the league leaders the London Cobras, a team who can boast of several players who have played in NFL Europe and with actual NFL experience.This crucial game takes place on 17 August at 4pm at Keynes College in the University of Kent.For more information on the East Kent Mavericks please contact Glenn on 07950 203029