Team’s marathon fundraising effort
FOOTBALLERS ran a marathon in a month each to pay for new kits - and also raise money for a local young person’s mental health group.
The Under-9s Pumas for Rossendale Valley Junior Football Club raised the cash for Jack’s Club.
Initially the team wanted to raise enough money to buy new kits and training gear without having to rely on a corporate sponsor, with any money left being donated to a good cause.
But having smashed their target, the team were able to donate £1,683 to
Jack’s Club, after the cost of the kits, training tops and the new set of footballs was deducted. The new kits now bear the Jack’s Club logo on the front of the shirts.
Lizzie Riley-Haworth’s son Austin plays in the team, and husband Nigel is the coach.
She said: “Normally they have a corporate sponsor, like a local business, but we were struggling to get a sponsor due to the lockdown, because local businesses were struggling.
“We thought it would be really nice because young people were struggling mentally with the lockdown so we thought it would be a good idea to raise awareness with the charity, by having the charity as our sponsor instead of the corporate one. We only thought we’d raise £100 or so, so we’ve done incredibly well and smashed it.”
To raise the funds the whole team, and the coach, decided to run a sponsored marathon in a month - clocking up the 26.2 miles through separate runs.
With training and matches cancelled due to lockdown, Lizzie said the marathon was the perfect way for the team still to do something together, albeit separately. The team chose Jack’s Club as it is a group which focuses specifically on young people’s mental health.