Football Marathon March for Prostate Cancer UK

The news about the men's march I first learned from AFC Wimbledon Football Club  from where the march began at 8am on Sunday 25th September 2022. As registration began at 7am there was a need to  arise and leave home early, in my case 5:45am though earlier for many others.

The organisers planned the 26.2 mile route to cover five football stadiums (or should one say stadia?). AFC Wimbledon, Brentford, Queens Park Rangers, Fulham and Millwall.

Of these, AFC Wimbledon, which is  newly constructed on what used to be London's last greyhound racing stadium was the best.

Then Brentford followed closely by Queens Park Rangers

Fulham had a great pitch but the entrance to its stands seemed years out of date. Of course the finish and supper provided at Millwall were vastly more important than the ground.

Interestingly unlike say The London Marathon which has thousands of people running for charities as well as elite runners, the total of  walking the London football  marathon for  Prostate Cancer UK was around 71 people though there had been similar walks earlier in the month, at Manchester, Birmingham and the South coast.

The route was usually busy but there was  great section in Lower Putney Heath which we all enjoyed during a brief break to allow the walkers to catch up, this  unlike say the London Marathon, not being a race:

Walking along the Embankment past St Georges Square SW1, it was amusing to see that the old Witham Weld (now known as Pothecary Witham Weld)  building was covered in scaffolding despite the new owners being Russian. The old firm see Leaving PWW was probably fortunate in moving to new premises near to Victoria Station before the latest difficulties resulting from the Russian  invasion of Ukraine. 

I have aged slightly since running London Marathons over the years, so the Football March Marathon proved difficult though well worthwhile. The most difficult section for me was at the Lambeth Bridge over the Thames at about mile 18, when I became unstable  climbing up the steps from the Embankment footpath towards the bridge and fell.

Two total strangers rushed over and helped me back on my feet with others buying me some tea from a nearby coffee shop. After expressing thanks I made my way to The London Eye where the organisers' medic was waiting. She checked that all was okay and after a bandage I was soon on my way. Shortly afterwards the walk passed by the Tate Modern which had an exhibit beautifully lit up outside:

Over supper one of the other walkers told me that he had left his car at Wimbledon Station so we decided to travel back together. 

After an interminable walk trying to find South Bermondsey Station, hampered by TfL not bothering to signpost the way to the station from the multitude of nearby footpaths, we eventually found the station but observed that trains were half hourly and we had just missed one. 

Night was falling and  given the increasing darkness and cold, we decided to take an Uber to Wimbledon. We walked some more, this time  to some small shops where within 4 minutes, an Uber arrived. The fare was set at £20 which we shared and the journey back was only 40 minutes.

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