Devon2Deepdale - In Memory of Jake ‘JJ’ Moyes

On November 1st, I begin what is set to be the biggest challenge I have ever set myself! I am going to run the equivalent distance of my house in Devon to Deepdale stadium in Preston (202 Miles) to raise money for Andy’s Man Club!

The challenge starts on November 1st and will finish on Boxing Day! Unfortunately, there is not a lane on the motorway slow enough for me! So I will be covering the distance of 202 miles by doing laps of my local football pitch whilst recording my distance covered on Strava!

Ive worked out that to get to Deepdale I will need to complete 1010 laps of my local football pitch, which works out at 18 laps a day, including Christmas Day!

Why have I decided to do this challenge? 3 reasons.

1) Back in June one of my closest friends lost his battle with depression, I want to do something in his memory and help raise money to prevent those feeling down from giving up.

2) I also have suffered with my mental health and I’ve always since the age of 16 used going to Deepdale to watch my beloved Preston as my escapism so I see this as a fitting way of raising some money!

3) I want to raise money for Andy’s Man Club, a charity that I’ve learnt a lot more about since the loss of JJ, and help other men with their mental health.

ANDYSMANCLUB is a male suicide prevention charity. They were established in 2016 after the tragic loss of Andrew Roberts to suicide aged 23. They facilitate non professional peer to peer support groups across the Uk and Scotland for any man to attend over 18 and provide a confidential, non judgemental space for men to come together and chat about anything that they would like to get off of their chest. They also have no waiting list, no referral or signing in process.

Please donate whatever you can, from fellow Preston fans to all of you who want to see me suffer running around a pitch in the freezing cold! Whatever you give helps this amazing charity!

Thank you

Richard Manning