As an avid rugby player, I have been very lucky in terms of injury having played over 1,000 games. The only "serious" injury I can recall is a broken arm right at the end of the season so I barely missed a match.

More recently, when I finished playing, to maintain my involvement, I took up refereeing. I am a member of the Manchester society and I referee at level 6, with most of my games in North West 1. Taking up running was a consequence of this as I needed to maintain a good level of fitness to handle these games.

In the last few years, I have become aware of a couple of cases where players have received significant life changing injuries. I have also seen the great work that the foundation does, stepping in, at a moments notice to provide the support, both financial and emotional that these players need on the long road ahead.

I have decided that during the 2018-19 season, I will do what I can to raise funds for the foundation so they can continue their good work into the future.

With this in mind, as I travel round the clubs in the North West, I will be raising awareness of the foundation and promoting my run at the London Marathon in April 2019.

Each Saturday, for training, I will run 10k in the morning (or referee a school match), referee a match in the afternoon, then run a further 5k round the pitch.