A local man has raised thousands for charity while attempting to break a Guinness World Record at the top of a mountain.

Matt Luxton is a health and fitness coach from Launceston who hoped to break a world record while also raising money for a good cause.

On September 28, Matt, alongside eight others, made the trip to Nepal where they would venture to climb more than 6,400 metres above sea level in the Everest mountain range.

Speaking to the Post, Matt explained: “As a team of ten initially we set off on the trek, however, we lost two team members to altitude sickness on day five and they had to be evacuated by helicopter.”

The purpose of this trek was to set a new Guinness World Record for the highest altitude exercise class, which had previously been held at 5,800m on Mount Kilimanjaro.

However, alongside this goal, Matt wanted to raise money for the Motor Neurone Disease Appeal.

Matt explained that this was a cause close to his heart following the recent diagnosis of a family friend.

After seven days of climbing, Matt and his team were able to start their record attempts.

He said: “We achieved the record attempt on day seven at 6,041m and then headed back to our tent at Mera Peak High Camp to rest for a few hours before our 1am wake up for the attempt at Mera Peak.

“On our summit day we had to postpone it by a few hours as the snowfall and weather were particularly bad. We had to set new tracks and were the only seven, we lost another to altitude sickness, to summit on that day, all other groups returned down the mountain, such was the weather.”

Through his journey, Matt has not only set a new Guinness World Record but has so far also raised more than £3,700 for charity.  If anyone wants to donate to Matt’s cause, visit his JustGiving page www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Matt-Luxton-Mera-Peak