LOUISE FROM BLACKBURN IS SUITCASE SIT-ATHON CHAMPION!
Louise Wright from Blackburn has won a £2000 holiday after winning The Mall Blackburn’s 48 hour suitcase sit-athon!
The 34 year old mother of five stayed awake for the duration of the gruelling task and won the tie break against two other contestants, recalling all 20 of the items that had been placed in a separate suitcase throughout the two days.
Her opponents were Bev McGhee from Wigan, who managed to remember 15 of the items and Karl Diamond from Southport, who memorized 17.
The final competitor, Jason Stanley from Preston, was eliminated from the competition during the 30th hour after accidently standing up whilst telling a story.
All four took their places on a suitcase on a specially designed beach in The Mall Blackburn’s Victoria Court at 3.00pm on Friday 20th July, with the nail biting finale taking place just after 3.00pm on Sunday.
Running in conjunction with Rock FM and hosted in The Mall by former Big Brother 9 housemate Luke Marsden, the competition saw thousands of Mall shoppers visit the beach area to watch the contestants fight exhaustion to stay awake without losing direct physical contact with their suitcase.
Speaking just after her win Louise said: “I am absolutely over the moon to have won the competition and I was determined to do so right from the start. It was more difficult than I thought it was going to be and the biggest problem was the boredom, especially after The Mall closed each day.
“I got through by focusing on the next break and this gave me small goals to work towards. That said, I very nearly gave up after 35 hours as I didn’t think I had the energy to carry on, but now I am really glad that I chose to stay.
“After spending such a long time surrounded by sand I can safely say that I never want to see a beach again and I am going to take all my children and my husband to Disneyland in Paris with the prize money.”
Loraine Jones, General Manager at The Mall Blackburn, said: “I would like to congratulate each and every one of our suitcase sit-athon finalists as they all did a brilliant job throughout the competition.
“Staying awake for 48 hours, sat on a suitcase with thousands of shoppers coming by for a look is nowhere near as easy as it sounds and it was a real test of stamina.
“It is such a shame that Jason was eliminated, he was so tired and got carried away in the moment of telling a story and stood up, which wasn’t allowed. I am sure he would have lasted the full 48 hours had he not done this.
“They were all exhausted after the two days and did fanatically well to remember the items that had been placed in the suitcase. It is lovely to hear that Louise is taking her husband and her children to Disneyland Paris and I hope that have an amazing time!”
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Notes to editors:
Pictures show: Louise as Louise with the other contestants
More information about The Mall
The Mall is the UK's leading community shopping centre Fund. Managed by Capital & Regional and Aviva Investors, The Mall Fund owns 9 shopping centres across the UK - home to approximately 1220 retail units and attracting approximately 1.9 million shopping visits every week. Shopping as it should be…………. www.themall.co.uk
For further editorial information about The Mall Blackburn, contact Paula Holden, Denise Dawson at ICG on 01772 679383 or email paula@icgonline.co.uk, denise@icgonline.co.uk
Out of hours contact details: Paula Holden: 07772268378
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