Bootcamp  participants dug deep to get fit and raise cash for charity.

Colchester Bootcamp owner Gabriel Beckett organised the event to repay Samaritans for the support they have given him when he has been battling mental health problems.

The fundraiser generated £740 which will be added to the money Mr Beckett has already raised for the charity, having done one-and-a-half miles of burpees round Abbey Field in 2018.

About 70 members of Colchester Bootcamp took part, showing up at Abbey Field to go through a gruelling set of exercises.

Bootcamp instructors Mr Beckett and Zbyszek Prazmoo were joined by guest instructors they had invited along.

Sean Wilson, the owner of Point One Health and Fitness, led workout stations, as did and Shaun Tyler, a Colchester-based osteopath, and they put the participants through their paces with tug-of-war stations, tyre pulls and countless press-ups.

The majority of those taking part in the activities were members of Colchester Bootcamp, which runs 19 sessions each week on Abbey Field, effectively acting as an outdoor gym.

There were friends and relatives of the bootcamp members who turned up as well, with passers-by also choosing donate while they saw the work everyone was putting in.

Liam Winters, communications manager for Colchester Bootcamp, took photos from the event and explained how the day went.

He said: “We had Gabriel as the main instructor and he had two guest instructors who each had their own station.

“After each station the participants would have a five-minute break before they went onto the next station with a new instructor.

“It was all about team building, you had to do a hundred reps of exercises, but you had to do the hundred reps together.

“We even got donations from people watching from the side.”