Mammoth trek to 92 football clubs to raise funds for James Kouzaris charity
AN inaugural 92-club relay is to set off from Sixfields Stadium on in Northampton on Thursday before going to every football league ground in England and Wales over the next 12 weeks.
The mammoth challenge, which is being organised by the charity Always A Chance, will see hundreds of people run, walk, cycle, skateboard, swim or even rollerskate 2,200 miles between the 92 football grounds.
The event, which has been organised to raise money to help young victims of violent crime, is being run by the charity set up in memory of James ‘Jam’ Kouzaris, the popular former Northampton School for Boys pupil, who was murdered while on holiday in Florida last year.
The relay will leave Sixfields, accompanied by Cobblers youth team players, at around 10am on Thursday before runners navigate the 32 miles towards Coventry City’s Ricoh Arena over two days.
There the baton will be handed over to friends of James Cooper, who was shot dead alongside Mr Kouzaris.
The 12-week relay will encompass the first anniversary of the murders, which took place on April 16, last year.
The baton will then be picked up by volunteers across the country, with dozens of people taking part in some of the legs and lone competitors completing others.
The huge relay will then take on the gruelling last 117-mile leg from Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium back to Sixfields, finishing in Northampton on April 24.
Paul Davies, chief executive of Always A Chance, said around 250 people had already signed up for the event, but he hoped as many as 1,000 may end up taking part.
He said: “It is very exciting but I am very nervous as well; firstly because we haven’t actually managed to fit in much training, so it is going to be a struggle, and secondly because we have to plan and organise the whole thing as well.
“There is an awful lot to do over the next 12 weeks.”
As part of the football tour, participants are due to make matchday appearances at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium, Blackburn Rovers’ Ewood Park and QPR’s Loftus Road ground.
Mr Davies added: “The clubs have been amazing. We can only fit in a certain among of pitch appearances but a lot of the clubs that aren’t doing that have put pieces in programmes and they are putting players up for photos. They are really getting behind it.”
For details of the relay www.92clubrelay.org.uk.
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