Cricket club captain completes 18 mile fundraising run around Calder Valley clubs

Ryan has raised nearly £800 for a new roller for the cricket club, which costs £2,500.

The run took place on Easter Sunday, with Ryan stopping off at Luddendenfoot, Mytholmroyd, Warley, Copley, Sowerby Bridge, Triangle, Booth and Sowerby Bridge CI during his three-and-a-half hour route, which started and finished at his home club.

Ryan said: "Having played for the club for over 25 years and hearing that they needed fundraising ideas for a new roller, it got me thinking about a long distance run, incorporating cricket clubs in and around the Calder Valley.

"This was a very challenging run with an elevation gain of 580 metres.

"Fortunately, I had great support on this run by good friends Tom Spencer and Simon Wood (SBCI first team captain). They helped me when at times the challenge was tough and without them it would have been much more difficult. Coming into the home stretch the support from friends and family was amazing and made it all worthwhile.

"This is my longest run to date and a huge achievement for both me and the club. We are overwhelmed by the community support and donations so far. Anything that anybody out there can do to help further would be hugely appreciated by all us."

After Ryan's run, the club had a fun packed day, with a kids Easter egg hunt, games and music, to help raise funds for the new rollers.

The club has two adult Saturday teams, one Sunday development team as well as a range of junior teams at Under 18s, Under 15s, Under 13s, Under 11s and Under 9s. They also run the ECBs ALLSTARS cricket program on Friday evenings, which in total means they have more than 100 children at the club.

They have also recently obtained some sponsorship from the Rotary Club of Sowerby Bridge and some local businesses to help support AllStars cricket, which is 5-8 year olds summer cricket camp, starting in May. The sponsorship has been used to reduce the costs for the local community.

Last year the club halved the costs of the programme from £40 to £20 with the help of funding.

"It’s all been part of an internal project since we redeveloped our cricket nets," says Jack Helliwell, from the club, "which saw our 20 year old practice facilities transformed into state of the art practice nets.

"They are very smart and the most updated around the area. However we’ve just added our final bits to the facilities so they are now officially complete.

"As a result, uptake on cricket for adults and juniors in the area has been great with over 100 kids on a Friday evening attending which is all run by amazing volunteers.

"We’re due to start AllStars again on May 7."

To donate to Ryan's fundraiser, visit https://gofund.me/35564cb3