After clocking up 2,500 miles driving around the country on just 10 hours’ sleep, two fundraising Felixstowe twins are looking forward to some well-earned rest this weekend.
hris and Stuart Daynes, both 41, finished their challenge of visiting all 92 English football grounds in 92 hours at the home of Ipswich Town today.
They departed Colchester United on Monday afternoon but fell just short of their 92-hour target, arriving at Portman Road, their final destination, in around 94 hours.
But Chris said it was an “amazing adventure” and thanked everyone who donated after raising more than £3,000 – above their £2,500 target.
They were fundraising to help Felixstowe and Walton United build a new clubhouse and provide vital funds to the Crohn’s and Colitis UK Charity.
Chris has suffered from Crohn’s disease, which affects the digestive system, for the last 25 years.
Both also volunteer at Felixstowe and Walton United, based at The Goldstar Ground in Dellwood Avenue, which has raised around half of the £70,000 it needs to put towards the construction of the £500,000 new clubhouse.
Chris said: “Obviously we haven’t climbed Mount Everest or swam The Chanel, but it still feels like a huge achievement and adventure.
“We were racing in between each ground to try to keep on schedule but have unfortunately failed by a couple of hours. There were traffic jams and overnight road closures which you can’t plan for.
“But there has been an amazing response up and down the country. The clubs we visited during the day on the whole were fantastic. MK Dons gave us a tour of their stadium and we received around 25 items from clubs which we will auction off to raise even more money.”
The pair lived off “garage food” during the week-long challenge and went without any sleep for two of the nights. On one night, they slept in the car park at Huddersfield Town.
Chris added: “One of the other highlights was turned up at Brighton at 3am in the morning. We had let them know we were coming beforehand and they let us on to the pitch and even turned on the floodlights so we could take a photo.”
The brothers even found time to write daily blogs published on the Felixstowe and Walton United website and published each visit, with a photo, on Twitter.
Chris said: “The 92 in 92 challenge has only been done a handful of times, but by a gang of people in a van – not with just two people like us! It was a good challenge and we would like to thank everyone who has donated so far.”
People can still donate. Visit www.felixstowefootball.co.uk for details.
The football grounds they visited:
MONDAY
1. Colchester United
2. Southend United
3. Dagenham and Redbridge
4. West Ham United
5. Leyton Orient
6. Tottenham Hotspurs
7. Arsenal
8. Queens Park Rangers
9. Chelsea
10. Fulham
11. Brentford
TUESDAY
12. AFC Wimbledon
13. Crystal Palace
14. Millwall
15. Charlton Athletic
16. Gillingham
17. Crawley Town
18. Brighton and Hove Albion
19. Portsmouth
20. Southampton
21. AFC Bournemouth
22. Yeovil Town
23. Plymouth Argyle
24. Exeter City
25. Bristol City
26. Bristol Rovers
27. Newport County
28. Cardiff City
29. Swansea City
WEDNESDAY
30. Swindon City
31. Oxford United
32. Reading
33. Wycombe Wanderers
34. Watford
35. Barnet
36. Stevenage
37. Luton Town
38. Milton Keynes Dons
39. Northampton Town
40. Coventry City
41. Birmingham City
42. Aston Villa
43. West Bromwich Albion
44. Walsall
45. Wolverhampton Wanderers
46. Shrewsbury Town
47. Stoke City
48. Port Vale
49. Crewe Alexandra
THURSDAY
50. Liverpool
51. Everton
52. Wigan Athletic
53. Bolton Wanderers
54. Manchester United
55. Manchester City
56. Oldham Athletic
57. Bury
58. Rochdale
59. Huddersfield Town
60. Leeds United
61. Bradford City
62. Burnley
63. Accrington Stanley
64. Blackburn Rovers
65. Preston North End
66. Blackpool
67. Fleetwood Town
68. Morecambe
69. Carlisle United
70. Newcastle United
71. Sunderland
72. Hartlepool United
73. Middlesbrough
74. York City
75. Hull City
76. Scunthorpe United
FRIDAY
77. Doncaster Rovers
78. Barnsley
79. Rotherham United
80. Sheffield Wednesday
81. Sheffield United
82. Chesterfield
83. Mansfield Town
84. Notts County
85. Nottingham Forest
86. Derby County
87. Burton Albion
88. Leicester City
89. Peterborough United
90. Cambridge United
91. Norwich City
92. Ipswich Town
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