Royal Marines footballers are taking on the extraordinary challenge of running and cycling the distance round the world to raise cash for good causes.
The Corps football team’s season was put on hold because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This presented them with a dilemma: either pack up and wait for football to return or, as they eventually did, look beyond their usual horizons for something to get their teeth stuck into.
In true commando style, the marines eventually went for an idea that will likely sound farfetched to many.
That is to run and cycle the distance round the world (25,000 miles) as a squad (not together, of course).
The footballers and staff have already got started on this gargantuan effort, which will see each player (there are 25 of them involved) separately run or cycle 100-plus miles per week for ten straight weeks to reach the combined 25,000-mile total.
This is all to raise cash for the NHS and Royal Marines Charity.
“COVID-19 is seemingly indiscriminate and is having a devastating impact around the globe and, for this very reason, we are going to cycle and run around the world, a staggering distance of 25,000 miles,” said manager Warrant Officer First Class Shaun Welburn.
“We aim to achieve this in just ten weeks or less which will require each man to complete 100-plus miles per week.
“This shall no doubt prove to be an epic challenge for the Royal Marines Football team but for the awe-inspiring NHS, who, at this time, find themselves battling heroically on the front line as motivation, anything is possible.
“My wife and a few other members of my family, as well as my team’s families, are nurses or work for the NHS, so I decided to set the challenge to my football team to cycle/run around the world totalling just over 25,000 miles in just ten weeks.
“The reason I chose to do it in ten weeks is because there are 25 participants including staff and players. Therefore the maths was easy – 100 miles per man per week for ten consecutive weeks in order to raise money for the NHS Charity and Royal Marines Charity as a 50/50 split.”
You can follow their progress here.
