Sky Sports Soccer Saturday presenter has raised £300,000 for Prostate Cancer UK this month and won so more by betting on Orient to lose on Monday
Jeff Stelling will wake up this morning relieved that for the first time in 10 days he doesn’t have to walk a marathon.
The Sky Sports Soccer Saturday presenter embarked on 10 marathons between March 21-30 starting at his beloved Hartlepool United and finishing at Wembley.
He walked 262 miles, stopped off at 31 clubs and helped raised an incredible £300,000 for Prostate Cancer UK alongside Pools chief executive Russ Green.
The Men United March is over now and Stelling admitted Leyton Orient played a part along the way.
Although what he really meant was hearing about Hartlepool’s win at Brisbane Road on Bank Holiday Monday helped his quest.
Goals from Billy Paytner and Nathan Thomas made it a great day for the Monkey Hangers, but not the O’s.
“I was heading towards Milton Keynes on Monday so seeing the Hartlepool score at Orient come through did ease the pain,” said Stelling.
“Also Sky Bet having been fantastic and given me a free £250 bet for each day with all the proceeds going to charity and I put it on us to win at 5-1 which was a nice £1,250 winner!
“Hartlepool have picked up lately and on the Sunday the entire team and the manager turned up on our route so they came to meet us which was brilliant.
“They have turned the corner recently and Craig Hignett is a fantastic guy. He is a scouser so has a great sense of humour and has done very well.
“I think we are safe now so hopefully we can just carry on and finish the season strongly before taking it into next year.
“Ever since Kevin Nolan took over I have always been looking at Leyton Orient because I know he is on 99 league goals and I was thinking do not score your hundredth against us!”
Thankfully for Stelling the former West Ham United captain didn’t, although he did have a good opportunity to do so.
After completing his 10 walking marathons yesterday at Wembley, the 61-year-old was greeted by a host of star names.
One of them included O’s very own Errol McKellar, who raised a huge sum of money last year for Prostate Cancer UK by arranging an Orient legends match at Brisbane Road.
Stelling admitted the support of all his friends and the public played a massive part in helping him finish the 261-mile trip.
This weekend will see him triumphantly return to the Soccer Saturday studios after completing his Men United March.
He added: “I lost somebody to prostate cancer and know another person with it. Their stories have been uplifting and kept me going really.
“The support has been fantastic, firstly from the public and secondly from my friends, the footballers, celebrities and all the Soccer Saturday boys have joined me to walk a leg of the journey.
“It will be about telling my body I’m not doing another walk now - that is the hardest part. You wake up every morning and come to terms with doing another one because if you can crack the psychological part you are halfway through the battle.”
Stelling certainly won this fight and has helped raise the awareness of prostate cancer in the process. To find our more and donate visit menunitedmarch.org or text JEFF to 70004 to donate £3 now.
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