A Darlington duo are set to join football pundit Jeff Stelling in a walking challenge to raise money for life-saving prostate cancer research.

Friends Scott Richardson and Tony Young will be aiming to walk a marathon in support of Prostate Cancer UK.

Mr Richardson, civic enforcement team lead at Darlington Borough Council, and Mr Young, a police officer at Darlington Police, will take on the North East leg of the journey, marching 26 miles with Jeff, an army of walkers and footballing royalty going from Newcastle United’s St. James’ Park to rivals Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, taking in Durham Cricket Club en route.

The March for Men fundraiser will see the TV presenter take on four walking marathons in four regions, starting in the North East on August 30, followed by a leg in Yorkshire, then heading to Merseyside before completing the action packed four days in London.

They will leave from, go via and finish at a football stadium on each day.

The long-serving Sky Sports presenter has raised more than £1m for the leading men’s health charity walking across the UK in 2016, 2017 and 2019 - to support Prostate Cancer UK in their quest to help stop prostate cancer being a killer.

Mr Richardson said: “In the UK, about one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. This is a shocking statistic and why I want to do my bit to prevent this deadly disease. The money raised will fund life-saving research.”

Mr Young said: “I have family who have been affected by the disease and so the walk is in honour of them. I am really looking forward to the challenge. It’s an important cause. We encourage people to get behind us and show their support.”

Prostate Cancer UK Chief Executive Angela Culhane, said: “Thanks to Jeff, Scott and Tony, and thousands of others who have embraced these mega marches, we have raised a game-changing sum of money and made massive progress in our goal to fund better research which will ultimately save more lives.

“We want to see a world where men’s lives are not limited by prostate cancer and we know men and their loved ones feel the same. Together we can stop men dying, and we thank Scott and Tony for signing up to join Jeff once more and look forward to him and the football community helping us achieve that goal.”

To support the pair visit justgiving.com/fundraising/scottr2471 and justgiving.com/fundraising/tony-young1704

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