Businessmen plan North West stadium walk for Sport Relief

THREE local businessmen are raising money for Sport Relief by visiting 16 North West football stadiums over four days. 

They will cover over 180 miles on their journey which will take them to clubs such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Blackpool and Bury.

Bryce McDonald, Craig Brussels and Paul Roberts will embark on the walk on April 6 and finish on April 9. The trio, who opened their business Ingenio Store earlier this year, hope to raise over £1000.

Paul Roberts, 28, said: “We had a few ideas, a half marathon or marathon, but then it just got longer and longer and we came up with the walk.”

The three will be walking for between 12 and 15 hours each day to make sure they stay on course.

22-year-old Bryce McDonald, from Swinton, said: “As our business is selling retro football shirts, football had to be involved in some way. What better way than to visit all of these stadiums.”

“Training Hard”

The trio have done an 18 mile ‘dry run’ from Manchester United’s home Old Trafford to Bolton Wanderer’s Reebok Stadium and are “training hard” in the build-up to the walk.

Craig Brussels, 23, from Wigan, said: “We have had some great replies from clubs including things to auction off like signed shirts, balls and match tickets. The majority of clubs are letting us in the ground for a walk round and to have photographs taken.”

Donations have come “mainly from family and friends but also some customers” with the total at £670 so far.

The businessmen chose Sport Relief because “it helps a wide range of people” and they hope to reach their £1000 target because “it is a great charity”.

Mr Roberts, from Wigan, said: “We are starting as we mean to go on, getting involved with charity work. It was one of the key things that we decided we wanted to do when we set up the business and we will be doing other projects in the future.”