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Stags staff united for fundraising challenge

Posted onPosted on 25th Nov

Three members of staff at Mansfield Town FC tackled a running challenge to raise money for Prostate Cancer UK.

Strength and conditioning coach David Waldie, head physio Tom Whittamore and assistant physio Dan Birkinshaw ran 10km every day in November as part of Prostate United 2021.

The fundraising challenge for professional football club staff aims to raise awareness of the charity.

David said: “It [was] started three or four years ago by Stephen Gilpin, the physio at Rotherham United. I think Stephen lost a member of his family to prostate cancer in the past and wanted to do something for charity, so he set up Prostate United.

“[In] The first year I think they ran 10 kilometres every day in November. In the second year a couple of other clubs’ medical staff and sports science staff joined in.

“Then myself and Tom joined in last year — the third year — and were essentially running 10k every day in November.”

The two members of the Stags’ first-team staff continued the challenge this year and were joined by Dan.

“We all aimed to run 10 kilometres a day. The other lads have, but I got to day 17 and I had to have a few days on the watt bike because my shins were giving me some grief,” added David

“Your shins, your back and your knees start to feel it a little bit. To be fair though once you’re through the first week you tend to just get used to it.

“We just wanted to complete the challenge and make sure that we have done one [run or cycle] every day. Even the 25k bike ride is quite the session. We just wanted to keep raising money and awareness.

“We’ve had really good feedback, especially from a lot of the players. They’ve all sponsored us.

“We raised £3,000 last year on our individual JustGiving page. We’ve not really set a target [this year]. It would be great to go over what we did last year, but we understand it’s hard to get money from people.”

The strength and conditioning coach was also keen to highlight the importance of raising awareness for prostate cancer.

“Any signs or symptoms, go and get checked out. It can’t do any harm,” David said. “It’s important to get checked for anything that feels out of the ordinary.”

To make a donation go to https://justgiving.com/fundraising/prostate-united-2021-6665