Chris Willian on Tyne Bridge with his bike. (Photo credits: Chris Willian)
On the 25th of October, Truro City Football Club broke the record for the longest away day in English Football history, as they made the 900-mile round trip to Gateshead, a northern town on the outskirts of Newcastle.
Chris, a Truro supporter, undertook the mammoth challenge of cycling to the match.
Chris began his journey six days before the match, giving himself as much time as possible to make it, without missing Truro’s home game the day before.
As you may not be surprised to find out, the journey was far from easy. “Very much touch and go as to whether I would actually overall, achieve what I wanted to.”
For Chris, the most difficult aspect of the trip was running out of battery on both his phone and his bike lights, as he was cycling up to 14 hours per day.
“I had this particularly sketchy moment when I was cycling from Rochdale to Burnley in the middle of night. My phone is nearly dead, the first light on my bike had gone and the backup light had a warning light going.”
Luckily, he made it into Burnley and found a kebab shop where he was able to charge his batteries.
The ever unreliable google maps added to the distance, getting Chris lost on multiple occasions and brought the over distance to over 500 miles.
His motivation behind undertaking this voyage was multifaceted.
First of all it was the record, and there is chance this fixture will not happen again.
He knew there would be a lot interest in it, and happened to have the week booked off work, giving him the opportunity to make this “extra special’ and attempt to do it by bicycle.
The personal sense of achievement was also a key factor.
In addition to that, Chris also raised money for the Against Malaria Foundation, which is one of the most efficient charities in terms of lives saved per pound donated.
He made a commitment to donate money equivalent to the cost of the trip, which was £900.
Other fans, as well as colleagues and family donated another £500.
The resulting £1400 became £1737 with gift aid.
Donating the cost was important to Chris personally, as he wasn’t prepared to ask anyone else to put their hand into their pocket unless he had done it himself.
“What an epic cycle ride in celebration of this record breaking away fixture and distance. We love Chris’ madness in cycling the distance and are so grateful both to Chris and all the Truro City supporters who have supported him and contributed,” says Rob Mather, Founder and CEO of the Against Malaria Foundation (AMF).
“100% of the money raised will buy 1,005 long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) that will protect more than 1,800 people when they sleep at night from the bites of malaria-carrying mosquitoes, that would otherwise cause severe illness or worse. That’s the equivalent of three entire villages covered. These nets can be expected to prevent one death, avert close to 1,000 cases of malaria and improve the local economy by £20,000 (12x the donation amount) – when people are ill, they cannot farm, drive, teach – function, so the improvement in health leads to economic as well as humanitarian benefits.”
Exactly where the nets are distributed by the Truro City fundraising can be followed on Chris’ fundraising page as AMF allocates each donation to a specific net distribution as part of their desire to be particularly accountable and transparent with their work.
Several of Chris’s colleagues described him as “Insane, but in a good way”, for doing this.
His father was both proud and worried at the same time.
Chris would also like to thank his brother Tom, who has a lot of experience with expeditions, and was a big help.
He provided Chris with a place to stay on the way near Bristol, and a power bank for charging on the go, which Chris says he wouldn’t have made it without.
Chris encourages others to give something like this a go and found it fascinating how accents, people and the countryside change gradually as you cycle through the country.
Chris was surprised at the great reception he got at the pub from the other Truro supporters before the game.
One comment on social media said “Met him at the game, lovely fella. Fantastic achievement!”
As for the match itself, Truro took a 2-0 lead in the first half, courtesy of an opener from Dominic Johnson-Fisher on the break, followed up by close range effort from Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain, the younger brother of the former England international.
Unfortunately for Truro, they also had another two goals disallowed due to some dubious refereeing, which allowed Gateshead a path back into the game in the second half.
The Tynesiders got one back thanks to a sumptuous finish from Kain Adom, who cut in on his left foot and curled one into the bottom corner.
Gateshead equalised on 70 minutes through Frank Nouble, who hit the 6-7 in celebration.
2-2 the final score on a historic day.
Chris Willian with Manager John Askey and Assistant Manager Stuart Yetton after the journey (Photo credits: Chris Willian)