Skip to main content Skip to site footer
Club News

Two PNE Fans Join Ride For Prostate Cancer

1 June 2017

Club News

Two PNE Fans Join Ride For Prostate Cancer

1 June 2017

Two Preston North End supporters will be representing the club along side PNE boss Simon Grayson on the Football to Amsterdam bike ride.

Bev Taylor and Rachael Carroll are joining the gaffer and hundreds of others on the charity cycle in aid of Prostate Cancer UK, which starts on Friday 9th June.

The pair funded the rise themselves so that all money raised went straight to the charity, and it's not the first time the ladies have got involved with charity efforts.

On why they have taken on the challenge, Bev said: "We love doing anything for charity, we love a challenge, and we wanted to get a bit fitter too so it all came together really.

"It's great that the manager is doing it too, I'm sure he will be way in front of us and we will be at the back but it's all for a good cause! That's the reason we signed up really, I come to Deepdale as a season ticket holder so I've seen on the big screen that he's done it a few years ago and then we went to event that the manager held to raise awareness in Leyland and we decided to do it from then. Rachael continued:

"We are PNE fans, we are from Preston and it brings two things together, the fact that we do love a challenge but also the raising money aspect of it, and it also involves football which we absolutely love.

"I've played football and watched football for years and I think everything revolves around football in our lives so it ties those things in together. It's nice to do something for a men's charity as well as we have done a lot for St Catherine's and women's cancer charities so it's something a little bit different.

"It's quite frightening really because we have only really looked into it since we decided to do this event, but one in eight men suffer from it. I work at a police station and have a lot of male colleagues so they have all been told about it and I've been encouraging them to go and get checked and there are guides all around the police station now!

"Even if it just helps one person and they pass that information on then it's positive."

The ride comes after a number of events taken on by the duo in aid of charity, as Rachel explained:"We've climbed Snowdon a couple of times, we've done the Race for Life, walked the Guild Wheel, that was a hard one! We did a cycle ride a few weeks ago for St Catherine's Hospice too so we just like to do challenges"

Bev and Rachel will be hoping to put their male counterparts to shame on the ride, but the main aim of 120 mile cycle is to raise awareness and funds for Prostate Cancer UK.

"We aren't cyclists, we only took it up in January this year, I'm not going to lie we are a little anxious about it as we aren't the fittest and we aren't the most natural of cyclists and it has taken a lot of effort for us to get ready for it but we will do it. Whether it takes us six hours or eight hours, we will do it and we will just get the next ferry if we don't make it in time!"

"We have the usual JustGiving account, we've been raising awareness at work and have the buckets around and badges for sale but a lot of the support is from our families and friends. We raised the funds for the ride ourselves so that all of the money would go straight to the charity. Thank you to our families and friends, and their friends who have helped to raise the money so far and hopefully there is a bit more to come."

Bev called for the North End faithful's support ahead of the ride, saying: 

"Hopefully the fans can get behind us, we are the only two along with Simon Grayson who are representing PNE, you register as a team and as far as I know there's only us three.

"There's been a bit of banter already on Facebook, there is one sole Blackpool fan going, there's a couple of Accrington Stanley fans and then there's one lad from Blackburn Rovers who is going so there has already been some banter but we said we would all meet up in the evening on the first night as the group from the North West and there are a few from Wigan as well so it will be good."

You can donate to the gaffer's charity efforts now by visiting www.justgiving.co.uk/fundraising/SimonGraysonAmsterdam2017

Or donate to the charity via Bev and Rachel's JustGiving page at: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Beverley-Taylor10


Advertisement block

iFollow Next Match Tickets Account