Constable Adam McEachern completes record Murph Challenge in 24 hours

April 7, 2021 · 0 Comments

By Robert Belardi

Caleb McEachern has been on the autism watch since he was three-and-a-half years old.

Just around 10 months ago, Caleb and his father Constable Adam McEachern of the YRPA were training in the basement of their home. Caleb was inspired by the efforts from Canadian hero Terry Fox.

As Adam was running on the treadmill, Caleb asked him a curious question.

“He said, ‘Dad, was Terry Fox alone?’” McEachern said. “I said ‘Yeah, he had people with him, buddy, but most of the time he was on his own.’”

Caleb continued to ask questions. He wondered if what Terry Fox did was hard. He asked his father if it hurt what he did. Then he asked his father why would he do this?

“I said, ‘well, Terry understood that by doing what he was doing it was going to help a lot of people just like him. It was worth it to be hard and all the hurt. He helped millions of people.’ I said, ‘You’re going to go through some things that are going to be tough and hard, and you’re going to have to push through it, pal,’” McEachern recalled.

A few minutes went by and Caleb asked his father if Terry Fox was a hero? Of course, Constable McEachern told his son that he was, and then he heard a resounding sentence that struck him like a bolt of lightning.

“Just like you dad, you’re a hero.”

He hit the jackpot with that one. The next day Constable McEachern stumbled on a challenge he had not known of from a colleague: The Murph Challenge named after a Navy Seals veteran Mike Murphy.

His colleague told him she had heard of a record being broken in 24 hours; someone completed the Murph Challenge 16 times in 24 hours.

To beat this feat, McEachern would have to complete 5,100 air squats, 3,400 push ups, 1,700 chin-ups and 34 miles of running.

McEachern didn’t want to do this just for the fun of it. He planned to do this on World Autism Awareness Day. He planned to support Kerry’s Place, which supports 8,000 people with autism. He set a goal to raise $10,000 and complete 17 rounds of the Murph Challenge.

And last Thursday, from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Friday, Constable McEachern completed his Murph Challenge with half-an-hour to spare in the YRPA building in Newmarket.

He raised $22,922 in his efforts.

“If I could do something that is far off the charts as far as physical ability, I’m just a normal guy. I’m just a dad doing this for his son and people like his son,” McEachern said.

“If we can raise the awareness [of] such a prevalent issue that there are so many people out in the world and in Canada that need our understanding – there’s millions of great causes, this one is just mine.”

Throughout the 24 hours, members of the YRPA supported McEachern by joining him throughout the Murph Challenge.

“His level of physical fitness he pushes other people as well,” said President of the YRPA Rob O’Quinn. “In the summer time and the weather is nice, pre-COVID, he would take people to an open baseball field and do rope-pulls and tractor tires.”

McEachern does it all. He inspires others around him. He supports a community of people to raise awareness. He dedicated 24 hours and numerous protein shakes to make a point that anything is possible as long as you put your mind to it.

Even if that means breaking some barriers for Kerry’s Place.

“Absolutely unprecedented. I’ve never seen someone jump into a cause to raise funds and awareness much like Adam. Not only does he put his life on a line as a police officer but he decided to go above and beyond,” said Travis Ambing, Fundraising Manager.

“We can’t thank Adam enough for all that he is doing.”