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A blind dad and his daughter have teamed up to complete a gruelling fitness competition in aid of raising money for suffers of a rare condition causing visual impairment. Together, the pair took on the intense Hyrox competition, which sees participants alternating between eight kilometres of running and eight functional workout stations, to raise over £2,000 for sufferers of Usher Syndrome. Mark Flanagan and his daughter Kate defied the odds by completing it together in under two hours, raising over £2,000 for sufferers of Usher Syndrome - a disease which Mark was diagnosed with later in life and resulted in him severely losing the majority of his vision. Usher Syndrome is genetically inherited and generally results in a combination of hearing loss and visual impairment for suffers. But while Mark was born deaf, he didn't realise he had the condition until he was finally diagnosed aged 48, when he began suspecting issues with his vision following two small car crashes in 2021. Join the Manchester Evening News WhatsApp group HERE The rare condition - which affects roughly 250,000 people - changed Mark and Kate's lives significantly, causing the 61-year-old to give up almost everything. As part of this, Mark was advised to give up his driving license, which severely impacted his ability to run his family business. "It was incredibly hard to deal with; it changed all our lives," Mark, of Northwich, Cheshire , told NeedToKnow. "I was driving at least 30,000 miles a year. I managed to get a driver through the Access to Work scheme, but it became untenable to keep them all running. We decided to slowly shut all the shops down, and by 2021, I retired completely." But since Mark's diagnosis, Kate, 22, who describes her dad as a 'hero', has set out to raise money for Retina UK - a charity which helps families through diagnosis' such as Usher Syndrome as well as researching potential cures for these conditions. In 2024 Kate, who works as a personal trainer, got involved in the Hyrox community, while Mark decided to kick-start his own fitness journey. Combining Kate's passion for fitness with Mark's new health goals, the pair decided to enter a Hyrox competition together in aid of Retina UK. With Kate acting as a guide for her father during the competition, the pair were able to achieve the unthinkable and complete the challenge in just 1 hour and 53 minutes. "It was such an emotional day, I nearly welled up halfway through - I was just so proud of him," Kate recalls. "I was really nervous going into it, as for me, I know exactly what my dad needs and how to help him - but others don’t. "Once we started, those feelings vanished as the staff were incredible and throughout other competitors were cheering us on. "When I shared it online, I had loads of amazing people reaching out to us, telling me that we’d inspired them to sign up for one. Gymshark even reached out and donated £500 to the cause. I was blown away." Mark added: "I can’t see or really hear what’s going on, so I essentially put my life in Kate’s hands. I couldn’t believe it when we had finished, everyone was congratulating us - it was really nice." Following on from the pair's success, Mark is now looking to complete a Hyrox on his own and the 61-year-old has set his sights on independently completing the circuit, with his daughter guiding him. "The big thing for me now is to just try and continue being an inspiration to others.," says Mark. "Always remember if you set out to achieve your goals, nothing is impossible."
