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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
Sport
Oliver King

Notts County fan embarking on 160-mile trip for Magpies' final away game of season

While many will be travelling to the Gallagher Stadium by car, bus or train for the Magpies' final away game of the season at Maidstone, one Notts County fan will aim to complete the 160-mile journey by foot to raise money for cancer research.

John Tennyson, 51, from Long Eaton, will be walking from Nottingham to Kent over five days starting next Monday to raise money for Cancer Research UK in memory of his father Darryl, who died in May 2022.

The walk will start in Nottingham before heading to Leicester, Northampton and then Dunstable. From there, John plans to walk to London before arriving in Maidstone on the Friday with his father's ashes as they undertake one final journey together.

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John and his father used to travel the country following the club until Darryl was diagnosed with stage four stomach cancer, passing away a few weeks later.

"Me and my dad always tried to go to the last away game of the season, but sadly I couldn't do it with him this year," John explained when asked about the idea behind his charity venture.

"I was sat in my local bar, and I wish someone had hit me with something because I looked at County's fixtures, clocked the last away game and just said out loud, 'I am going to walk to Maidstone'.

"It has just snowballed from there - I decided I was going to do it for cancer research. I have never done anything like this before in my life so I needed to contact everyone to get everything sorted.

"They told me I could raise money for the specific cancer so I have done it for stomach and pancreatic cancer. which my dad passed away from. That time was horrendous - from finding out my dad had cancer on April 26 to May 6 when he passed away. It was that quick.

"If I can raise enough pay for six months' worth of testing or whatever and the money saves somebody going through what I have gone through, then it makes it all worth it."

Having organised a route, John went about preparing his body for the long trip down south, regularly posting updates on Twitter about his progress.

He would walk from his home in Long Eaton to as far as the Trent Navigation pub just a stone's throw away from Meadow Lane as he continued his preparations.

And with just four days left until the big day, he explained he has an abundance of memories from his training that will keep him going during his 160-mile journey.

"I have stopped training now, but the training overall has been absolutely brilliant," he said.

"The memories I have made will be with me forever - a friend I work with has been up a few mountains, and he said we would go out on a few walks together, and for some of them I was actually mountain climbing. That was to build up my cardio levels and the strength in my legs.

"When I crossed over to road walking I did find it a lot easier so I've decided to slow down now because we are only four days away so it's a case of wrapping myself up in bubble wrap.

"My head is in a good place, and the mental side of this is massive because there will be days where I am going to doubt myself and going to be in pain - so many people have told me it is going to hurt."

The money pledged has already surpassed the £1,000 mark, with his £2,000 goal just £770 away and still plenty of time to donate if people are able.

The fundraiser has gained an increasing amount of traction since being posted on social media - most recently Gillette Soccer Saturday host Jeff Stelling shared the post to his almost quarter of a million following which has been viewed over 80,000 times.

"That was amazing, I celebrated and then panicked because I thought it had gone out to around 240,000 people. That particular night I don't think I got a chance to put my phone down till gone midnight, it was mental.

"It was brilliant and that's all I want. I want to get it to so many people to raise so much money and awareness for a horrible disease which I think we should be dealing with - the more I can raise the better."

John is also raising funds by with a raffle to win an official Notts County ball signed by this season's squad of players, with the GoFundMe link available here if you wish to donate before he embarks on his walk this Monday.

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