When he set off on his daily press-up challenge to raise cash for charity, Alex Thomas never expected he would still be at it 12 months later.

It was some scoffing from a friend, who bet him £50 he would never complete the course and the fact that other mates dropped out along the way, that spurred on the 33-year-old barman.

The outcome was a massive 67,504 – slightly more than he had expected as 2012 was a Leap Year – and a windfall for a charity in memory of a little boy.

The “pressupathon”, part of celebrations over the Olympic year, challenged people to complete press-ups representative of each day of the year.

On the last day of 2012, Alex who lives at the Talbot Arms in Settle, completed 366.

“It got serious when my boss Russell East, landlord of the Talbot, bet me £50 I couldn’t do it. So I took on his bet,” said the squash player.

“I’d never really done press ups so it was all new to me. But once I got some distance into the year, there was no turning back.”

Alex kept a calendar on which he notched up his total. “You weren’t allowed to store any up, so on day one you could only do one. But there were times when on some days I had to catch up, for instance I was ill for three days.”

Alex’s hard work has been a gift for Skipton hairdresser Claire Marsden and her charity Harry’s Star.

Alex has presented the £820 he raised through sponsorship to Claire who said she was touched by his generous gesture.

She said: “I had no idea about it or what he’d been doing for the whole year. I’m grateful Alex wanted to help Harry’s Star especially when he’d never met Harry.”

Claire’s son died of a brain tumour in November 2010 aged just ten months.

Her fund set up in his memory and backed by Brain Tumour Research and Supprt has reached £35,777.

People who want to support Claire’s charity, should contact her on 01756 798090.