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“...and I would walk 500 miles...” ...well 100 anyway!

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Manchester Phoenix sledge hockey coach Pete Hagan and player Steve Bradley are planning a 100-mile walk to Coventry in time for the English Premier League Playoff Finals to raise money for charity.

The trek will start on 1 April at Phoenix's home rink, the Altrincham Ice Dome, and will finish at the Skydome Arena in time for the first day of the playoff weekend on 6 April.

The duo are raising money for the Manchester Phoenix Community Sports Foundation, which introduces disabled and deprived children in the North West to sport, and Stick 'n' Step, a charity that provides free specialist conductive education and support services to children with cerebral palsy, their families and carers.

Pete and Steve will be helped along the way by the Coventry Honeybadgers ice hockey club and will also be raising cash for their sledge hockey team. The pair have set up a donations page at www.everyclick.com/charitywalk and will also be collecting money along the route.

With Phoenix's EPL team aiming to be battling for silverware at the playoffs, the intrepid trekkers are hoping for a rousing reception from Manchester's renowned travelling support.

"Steve Bradley has done several walks such as this in the past to raise money for Stick 'n' Step, a charity close to his heart, and suggested this idea when we were looking at ways to help raise money for the foundation and the sledge hockey team," said Hagan.

"We looked into it end of 2012 and seemed like a great idea - but now I’ve seen the distances we are going to be walking each day, I'm not so sure!

"We contacted the Honeybadgers to see if they would like to join us and, in turn, allow us to help raise funds for another sledge team as well as ourselves, helping the game in another part of the country.

"The sport is starting to take off, especially with the recent GB success, and this will help not only the domestic teams but possibly GB by providing a stronger league, something that we at the Manchester Phoenix are very committed to."

The captain of Phoenix's sledge hockey side, Karl Nicholson, was part of the Great Britain team that won the bronze at the 2013 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships B-Pool in Nagano, Japan, last weekend. Securing the medal means the national team will now progress to the final qualifying tournament for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Charity walk schedule:

• Day 1 - Altrincham to Congleton (22.5 miles)
• Day 2 - Congleton to Trentham (17.75 miles)
• Day 3 - Trentham to Stafford (12.5 miles)
• Day 4 - Stafford to Walsall (17.75 miles)
• Day 5 - Walsall to Meriden (22.75 miles)
• Day 6 - Meriden to Coventry (7 miles)

Link

• Support Pete and Steve