Kitman takes 82-mile walk to away game for charity

The kitman for AFC Telford United is aiming to walk 82 miles to the team's match against Southport on Saturday, taking the team's kit with him.

Thomas Mansell will be carrying it all in two bags with the help of Kyran Purohit, from the AFC Telford United Foundation.

They are aiming to raise money for Alder Hey Hospital and Prostate Cancer UK.

The challenge has been made more difficult by the decision to move kick-off back to 12:30 BST and Mansell said he might have to skip breakfast on Saturday morning to make it on time.

Mansell said he "thought it was a great opportunity to do a good thing" and they had chosen two charities which meant something to them.

He said Prostate Cancer UK because of the support it had given his family and friends, and Alder Hey because of the support it gave victims of the Southport attacks.

Mansell said the kit, which also includes footballs, medical equipment and video recording equipment, would be packed into two metal containers on wheels.

On Wednesday, they plan to set off at 04:00 to get the longest leg of the journey out of the way.

They are expected to take 14 hours to walk to Nantwich, then 11 hours on Thursday to get to Widnes and another nine on Friday to Ormskirk.

The pair hope to reach the stadium in plenty of time for the match and Mansell said the plan was to "set changing rooms up fairly quickly and then get ourselves a nice drink from the bar and a well deserved burger".

But their plans for a full English breakfast at their hotel in Ormskirk were scuppered when the match was brought back from its original 15:00 kick off.

Mansell said he remembered thinking: "There's the lie-in gone."

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