Hartlepool United president Jeff Stelling gears up for mammoth Prostate Cancer UK charity challenge

Hartlepool United president Jeff Stelling isn’t a man to run from a challenge, but rather runs with a challenge.
Jeff Stelling.Jeff Stelling.
Jeff Stelling.

The Soccer Saturday presenter has completed the London Marathon eight times and in 2016 walked 262 miles from the Super 6 Stadium to Wembley and raised over £420,000 for Prostate Cancer UK.

And this year he is marching in four separate marathons in four different nations in the UK in four consecutive days.

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Glasgow on the 5th September, Belfast on the 6th, Cardiff on the 7th and London on the 8th.

The march will be take place between football stadiums ranging from Crusaders FC 3,883 capacity stadium Seaview to Tottenham Hotspurs' new 62,062 seater home.

Stelling said: “We aim to break through the £1m raised for this disease that kills one man every 45 minutes. It’s a staggering statistic.

“My idea was all our previous 25 marathons have been completed in England – but it’s Prostate Cancer UK. Of course, men in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland suffer just as much so we should get out there and bang the drum.

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“It’s not the same duration of walk as the first two – ten marathons in ten days before 15 in 15 – but it’s got its own difficulties.

“Every day is a walk against the clock. We’ve got to get finished, get to the airport, get through security and on the last flight to our next destination so we’re ready to start the next morning.

“Recovery between days it’s going to be one of the big problems. You can only set off in the morning at a certain time because the night before we often won’t arrive at the hotel until 10 or 11pm – then you’ve got to have enough time to recuperate.

“On the other walks we could have a bit of physio at the end of the day, get to the hotel, have a nice long bath, a bite to eat – a beer – and recharge. That’s not going to happen this year because it’s all about the pressure of time.

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“It will be worth it, however, to get to the four home nations. We’ve met so many great people in the previous two challenges and hopefully this will also give us the chance to get some new celebrities along – although Paul Merson has already said he wants to do all four days and Matt Le Tissier wants to get involved again.

“It’s also the international weekend.

"When we’re in Belfast it will be the night after they’ve played a friendly against Luxembourg and a few days before they play Germany – hopefully there will be a few celebs and pundits we can drag in. Their phones will be ringing soon!" he told the Non League Paper.