Milton Keynes man to walk to football grounds across country for charity

Mark Crowther, from Milton Keynes, is well-known at Kenilworth Road for his cycling challenges, which raised over £38,000 for various mental health challenges.

The 58-year-old has been frank about his mental health battles and released a book earlier this year documenting his time cycling to numerous football stadiums around the UK.

After publishing his book, Mark was ready to have a go at something even more difficult and swapped his bike for a pair of walking boots.

He said: “And as usual with my challenges, they start off quite small and end up so big. I worked out how many grounds, how many games I’d have to walk to get to one million steps.”

Starting tomorrow, Mark will pound the pavements and hopes to raise £4,000 for Dementia UK, CHUMS Charity, Stepping Stones and MIND BLMK.

He said: “I don’t just do it for one charity. With my own personal struggles with mental health, I wanted to sort of do something for some local charities.”

Mark’s grandfather died of dementia and Mark hopes his challenge will raise more awareness about the syndrome.

From his home in Milton Keynes, Mark will be up at 3am tomorrow to start his 20-mile walk to the Kenilworth Road ground for Luton Town’s match against Millwall.

Click here to find details of all of his walks and donate to his fundraiser.

He is looking for people to get involved in his challenge and help him rack up virtual steps. Between March 3 to 7, Mark wants volunteers to help reach his target.

And to finish off his journey, Mark hopes to complete his final steps at Luton Town’s final home game match of the season against Coventry City on April 26.

The charity champ said: “It’s usually a great atmosphere at the last home game, and that’s where I finish it. And all my challenges before have all been to away grounds, so a lot of people haven’t seen me, whereas this time, there’s five home games, the people that only go to the home games will get to see me, will get to support it.

“It’s a challenge that people can get involved in.”

When asked why he keeps setting these challenges for himself, Mark said: “These challenges give me a focus. It helps me focus on other people and not think about myself and just think that I can do this.

“Mental health is my big passion, because I want everyone to know that there is help and support out there.”