Brother takes heart victim's business from strength to strength

Michael Land, who lived in South Bank, seemed in the peak of physical fitness when he died suddenly in his sleep from Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS) due to an undiagnosed heart condition in 2012.

The rugby coach and entrepreneur was the founder of Yorkshire Fitness Hire which was subsequently taken on by his brother Frazer - then a factory supervisor with no business experience.

After a “steep learning curve”, Frazer has told of his pride that the business his brother set up has continued to grow and now supports major events across the county.

Frazer said: “We miss Michael every day. We are very proud of what we have done and hope he would be too.

“We are particularly happy to work with charities, raising money for people also having major struggles in life.

“As well as doing work for other charities we also raise money regularly for our chosen charity, Cardiac Risk in the Young, in memory of Michael.”

Among the events the fitness hire company has supported, was a 30 bike interactive cycling event at the Knavesmire at the big send off for the Grand Depart of the Tour de France.

The team also hosted a similar event for ITV at Harewood House when the Tour travelled through Leeds and later worked with them on a 24-hour interactive cycling event, hosted by Phil Schofield for the Text Santa appeal.

More recently, they have supported a charity event for the Jane Tomlinson Appeal in Leeds.

It has also expanded to hire out fitness equipment for television and film, resulting in the team working alongside Anthony Joshua, Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) and Kevin Hart among other well known faces.

The business now has a team of four, including Frazer and Michael’s dad, Gary.

Gary said he is very proud of Frazer’s efforts and achievements.

He said: “He has done a magnificent job keeping it going. Frazer packed in a well paid job and it has been a struggle at times. It’s growing now.”