Novice cyclist from Sevenoaks to cycle to all 92 football league stadiums for charity

KentOnline / KMTV

The mammoth feat will take Danny Brazenell around the likes of St James' Park in Newscastle, the Emirates Stadium in London, and Gillingham's very own Priestfield.

Transcript

00:00 I'm here right outside Priestfield Stadium, home of the Gilles.

00:03 Now, the season hasn't quite started yet,

00:04 so I'm not here to catch a match.

00:06 Instead, I'm meeting the man who, in a few weeks' time,

00:08 is going to get quite used to the sight of these.

00:11 Danny Brazenhall is getting ready to cycle around all 92

00:14 Football League stadiums, and I'm meeting him today

00:17 for a bit of training.

00:20 An avid Manchester United fan and a player in Sevenoaks Town's

00:23 veteran squad, Danny loves his football,

00:26 but until a few years ago, hadn't really much experience

00:29 on a bike.

00:30 So preparing for a cycle around all 92 EFL club homes,

00:34 especially for a complete novice,

00:36 is surely going to be a whole different ballgame.

00:39 But Danny is not just dribbling around.

00:41 He says his mind and body are ready after undergoing

00:44 a ton of training.

00:46 He even cycled from Sevenoaks to meet me outside of Gillingham

00:49 FC, a measly two-hour cycle which

00:51 he says is becoming the norm.

00:53 Training is just like another day job.

00:55 So just put in what you can put in, really,

00:58 and just go for it.

00:59 One of my friends, he said to me--

01:00 because I was going to run London clubs,

01:02 but I had a knee injury, so I couldn't really run.

01:05 And I've decided-- he said to me,

01:07 you want to go and do all 92.

01:10 So I decided, well, 92 football clubs, I can't run it,

01:12 so I thought I'd cycle it.

01:14 I would never have said that I could do anything

01:16 like this before.

01:17 And obviously, the people that supported me,

01:20 it's just amazing.

01:21 So yeah, let's give it back to them

01:23 and go out there and raise as much money as we can, really.

01:26 The family man is taking on the mammoth feat

01:28 to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital

01:31 after it cared for his niece who suffered from cancer.

01:34 Already, thanks to the help of his friends, family,

01:37 and sponsors, Danny has raised almost 5,000 pounds

01:40 and aims to raise 10,000.

01:42 One of the many supporters who have been plastered

01:44 over the bike he's going to actually use

01:47 is the bike warehouse in Sevenoaks.

01:49 They supplied him with a discount towards the bike.

01:51 He's obviously trying to raise a lot of money for good cause.

01:54 He's got a lot of support behind him.

01:55 He's been promoting it well.

01:56 He's obviously very determined.

01:58 And so we wanted to help him along the way,

02:00 so I've supported him with doing the bike

02:02 at a really decent discount.

02:03 But lots of other bits as well.

02:04 I'm helping him with his routing and mapping.

02:06 I'm seeing him on Tuesday evening

02:07 as we go through the final bits of that.

02:09 So he's looking at regular days of over 100 miles.

02:12 And so having done a lot of cycling,

02:14 I know what that entails.

02:15 And it's not just that distance.

02:16 It's the repetition of that distance that makes it really

02:18 quite a challenge.

02:19 So he's got to be fit.

02:20 He's got to be prepared.

02:21 He's got to look after himself during the challenge

02:23 in order to get through it.

02:24 He is admirable, and I'm sure he's up to the task.

02:28 Danny will be starting his ride on Monday the 14th of August,

02:31 a 2,500-mile route which he says will take 23 days.

02:36 And whilst I didn't have a bike of my own,

02:38 Danny made sure to include me in his training nonetheless.

02:42 Bartholomew Hall for KMTV at Priestfield Stadium.

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