WHEN it comes to raising money for charity many would be hard pressed to beat the efforts of a dedicated, super-fit Milton Abbot man.

Martial arts enthusiast Roland Highland, has set his sights on raising around £60,000 — the proceeds of which will go to help maintain St Constantine Church in Milton Abbot as well as Devon children's charities for the disabled and/or a children's hospice.

Roland, 43, and originally from St Austell, moved with his wife, Denise, to Milton Abbot a few months ago.

He intends to go for a Guinness Book of Records title of beating the current world record of 15,000 press-ups in seven hours! Hopefully, the event, which he intends to hold in Tavistock next February/March, will be televised.

Roland already has a number of major sponsors lined up - including British Telecom, Stanley Tools, Canon Cameras and Virgin Media — and he says all the money raised will be going directly to charities..

Roland, who with Denise runs a pet supply shop in Launceston, told the Times: 'It takes a lot of training and on the day it will be a lot of hard work but I know it will be worthwhile because it will be helping children's charities in particular - which my wife and I have a soft spot for.'

Roland, who lived in London for 18 years, has competed in martial arts tournaments all over England, Germany, Belgium, Holland, US and the Far East, represented England several times, and appeared on both GMTV and Eurosport. A fifth dan Jeet-Kune Do black belt, the fitness fanatic is also a successful cage fighter.

His charitable efforts started around 12 years ago and he takes part in a major fundraiser once or twice a year.

He said: 'I found I could do press-ups very easily and someone suggested why don't I do something for charity by doing press-ups and a few other physical activities. It gives me great satisfaction and pride to know I'm doing something to help children with disabilities.'

In September in London he took part in a charity event which raised more than £79,000 for the 3H-Fund, a charity which organises holidays for disabled people and respite for carers.

During that event Roland performed an incredible 12,500 press-ups, 60 bar-dips, 65 bar pull-ups and 200 squats; 1,000 sit-ups, 100 incline sit-ups and 15 miles each on a running and cycle machine; two minutes each of head high kicks non-stop, speed-punching and a Nun Chuka demonstration before finishing off doing four miles on a rowing machine —which all took more than ten hours to complete.

There were two people he particularly wants to thank in Milton Abbot for backing his bid: 'I have to thank Tony and Glenis of the Edgecumbe Arms in Milton Abbot whose food keeps me going — I certainly need all the carbohydrates and a lot of pasta to keep me going!'