More than a year in the making, the Georgia Tech Chapter held its inaugural Lift For Life in support of the rare disease community last Friday morning.

Chapter President and founder, offensive lineman Trey Klock, knew it would be a tough road to get an Uplifting Athletes Chapter up and running at Georgia Tech.

But Klock stayed committed to using his platform as a college football student-athlete to making a difference for rare diseases. Eventually some of his teammates, members of the athletic support staff and the Georgia Tech coaching staff joined Klock and the pieces all fell into place.

“This has been a lot of people putting in a lot of hard work. Guys like my teammate Shaun Kagawa and our strength coach John Sisk. They did so much to make this happen,” Klock said. “It’s been a lot of work on my part, but to see it happen felt so great.

“It was such a good feeling seeing my teammates buy into what we’re doing. Not just showing up for the event, but actually interested in why. Guys really cared and that really meant a lot to me.”

Sleeping in on Friday morning? Not an option. pic.twitter.com/qnc43JDTVf

— GeorgiaTech Football (@GeorgiaTechFB) June 10, 2016

The Georgia Tech Lift For Life started at 6 a.m., with each individual running an obstacle course, designed by Sisk, for time. The obstacle course featured tire flips, farmer’s carry and shopping cart push.

Each individual’s time was part of a team competition to give the players some incentive. And it worked.

“It was only like 90-100 seconds, but it was intense,” Klock said. “The guys were really into competing to see which team could post the best time.”

The inaugural Georgia Tech Lift For Life smashed its fundraising goal of $5,000 and raised more than $7,500 for Uplifting Athletes in support of the rare disease community.

You can still support the Georgia Tech Chapter by visiting their Lift For Life fundraising page.