BEAST OF A TEST FOR JON AND CO!
THEY were strike partners at Preston North End – now Jon Parkin and Chris Brown are getting on their bike for charity!
The pair, who were with the Lilywhites between 2008-2011, are teaming up with comedian Chris ‘The Other One’ Brown from their successful UndrTheCosh podcast for a sporting test of endurance.
They’re set to take on Prostate Cancer UK’s Football to Amsterdam bike ride. The 140-mile two-day challenge will take them from Barnsley to the famous city in Holland along with thousands of other riders from across the country all aiming to raise money to fight the disease that kills one man every 45 minutes.
While all three will be pedalling, Parkin and exstrike partner Brown may even combine forces – on a tandem!
“That’s all up to Chris Brown, to be honest,” said York City’s Parkin, nicknamed ‘The Beast’. “He thinks I’m not going to pull my weight!
“He also said after a few beers on the ferry over, under no circumstances is he going behind me because I do get a bit windy after a night out. I think he’s worried I’ll blow his fringe off !
“It will be a good craic. The final destination is the carrot, isn’t it? A night out in Amsterdam after. It’s obviously for a fantastic cause and I’m sure we’ll be able to grind our way through it and everyone will help each other out. I don’t just mean us but everybody on the trip. I’m sure there will be points where we all struggle.
“It’s a bit like a pre-season where all the lads try to gee you up. I’ve never been at the front of anything in my life so it won’t be starting with a bike ride. But hopefully we’ll raise a few quid along the way.”
For Brown the ride is the perfect way to keep his fitness up post-playing career – but they’ve had a warning about the size of the task!
“That’s what I’ve struggled with since I stopped playing – having the motivation to do something,” he said. “But this has given us that.
“The first few times you go to the gym it’s always the hardest but I’ve got the bug. I’m doing morning spin classes and when the weather is a bit better I’ll be going out on the roads.
“I wasn’t too concerned about how hard it’s going to be but we met up with Viv Anderson last week and he just shook his head and said, ‘It’s harder than you’ll ever expect!’.
“Me and Jonny looked at each other to say, ‘Should we cancel!’ But we’ve come too far now.”
Along with comedian Brown, the trio’s podcast and YouTube videos – where they watch games at home or abroad – have been a huge hit.
Former players like Brett Ormerod and Dean Windass have been on sharing stories from their playing careers.
Parkin added: “It’s the guests that make it. Football now compared to what it used to be is totally different. Some of the younger lads at York listen to it and they say, ‘Is that really how football used to be?’
“Yeah! There was no social media and all that stuff. We used to do some stupid stuff but it was a good craic. They can’t do anything now without it being on social media and it’s all changed.”