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Schoolboy, 12, 'scales Everest' without leaving the house by climbing stairs 2,507 times

Undated handout photo of Seth Charles, from Sheffield, who climbed his stairs 2,057 after the coronavirus pandemic meant he had to rethink his planned climb of Scarfell Pike.
Seth Charles climbed his stairs 2,057 times after the coronavirus pandemic meant he had to rethink his planned climb of Scafell Pike. (PA)

When you’re planning on climbing England’s highest peak, being told you have to stay at home is a bit of a problem.

But 12-year-old Seth Charles refused to let the coronavirus lockdown deter him from scaling a mountain, deciding instead to climb the peak of Everest without even leaving his house.

The schoolboy, from Sheffield, set himself the task of climbing his stairs 2,507 times to achieve his goal.

He isn’t the first person to achieve an athletic feat despite having to stay at home. Last month, James Page, 36, ran a marathon in his back garden after the London Marathon was postponed.

Seth Charles completed his 'Everest climb' at home in just under 24 hours, stopping only for food. (PA)
Seth Charles completed his 'Everest climb' at home in just under 24 hours, stopping only for food. (Picture: PA)

The keen boxer had originally planned to climb the mountain to raise money for a trip to San Francisco for a training camp with his boxing club, Sheffield Boxing Centre.

Unable to complete the task after all non-essential travel was banned due to COVID-19, his family worked out how many times he would need to climb the stairs to achieve the height of Everest from sea level.

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He completed his task in just under 24 hours, stopping only for food, after starting at 5.30am on Tuesday and finishing at 4.45am the following day.

His mother Rachael said: “I just couldn’t believe that he carried on going, I was just dead on my feet just being there and helping him count. But he did it.

CUMBRIA, UNITED KINGDOM. JULY 2017. Aerial photograph of the summit​ of Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England, part of the Lake District National Park, on July 12th 2017. (Photograph by David Goddard/Getty Images)
Seth Charles was due to scale Scafell Pike but couldn't because of the current lockdown rules. (Getty Images)

She added: “We originally thought it would take him 10 hours, but realised we had got our maths wrong.

“His legs are quite stiff today, but they’ve trained him quite well at this boxing centre. They do stairs there, but they’ve never done that amount before.”

The hike is just one of a number of fundraisers the boys at the centre are doing to raise money for the training camp, which could now be rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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