Sailor’s charitable goal

LS Kris Winther practices squats with his daughter Francesca Sabrina near his home in Sooke. On Dec. 20 LS Winther will attempt to break the world record for consecutive squats in a fundraiser for BC Children’s Hospital. Photo by Fabiola Gavidia

Peter Mallett, Staff Writer ~

This week, Leading Seaman Kris Winther is working his leg and back muscles in support of the BC Children’s Hospital.

On Dec. 20, in the gymnasium of Victoria’s Delta Hotel by Marriot or on the grounds if the weather is good, the 36-year-old member of Joint Personnel Support Unit (JPSU) will attempt a world record 6,000 consecutive squats in three hours. The current world record for consecutive squats is 5,135.

When the clock strikes noon, he will begin the process of repeatedly bending his knees to a right angle and returning to an upright position over and over again in a benefit for the children’s hospital.

LS Winther’s efforts are all about raising $30,000 in financial support and awareness of the province’s only full-service, acute-care hospital that serves the medical needs of more than one million children.

“I’m also doing this for my three-year-old daughter. She is healthy, but I don’t know what I would do if anything bad ever happened to her,” he says.

LS Winther is currently posted to JPSU because he’s transitioning out of the military.  For the first seven years of his 11-year military career he was a member of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry and saw two deployments to Afghanistan. For the next four years he was a boatswain with the Royal Canadian Navy.

At some point in 2018 he will officially conclude his military career, and he believes his fundraiser is a great way to end it.

To prepare for the ambitious goal, he has been doing those “death by squats” as he puts it, every day for the last five weeks. He’s already performed 4,000 consecutive squats on more than one occasion, and on Nov. 29 surpassed 4,800 squats during one of his workouts.

“I think I could have actually exceeded the world record during that workout, but didn’t want to do it. When I hit 6,000 for the first time I want people to see the pain and struggle in my eyes. I’ve trained enough now; I’m ready for it and I don’t think anything can stop me now.”

He’s established his own charitable organization Vets for The Cure and also opened a BC Children’s Hospital Superhero Account.

He’s hoping on a big cash infusion in the days leading up to his record-breaking attempt.