Wayne aims to raise £2,000 raising money for vital research into dementia and motor neurone disease
Wayne Entwistle, a striker for Sunderland A.F.C. between 1977 and 1979, is to cycle from his home in Bury, Lancashire to Carlisle, then all the way along Hadrian’s Wall. The 200-mile pedal will end on July 17.
The pedal is aimed at raising money for vital research into dementia and motor neurone disease – the two conditions which affect millions.
Wayne aims to raise £2,000, but he is hoping to surpass that figure. The money will be split equally between the two causes.
Wayne, now 62, now works in the construction industry and has five daughters.
He was persuaded to make the trek by Stuart Johnson, the very respected coach who discovered him and managed to secure a trial for Wayne at Bury FC. Bury offered him his first professional contract when he was a teenager. He moved from Bury to Sunderland.
Stuart has two old friends from his own playing days who are now very poorly. One is suffering from motor neurone disease, the other with dementia.
Others are making the journey along Hadrian ’s Wall by foot, but that will take nine days and Wayne didn’t have enough time. So he will catch up with the walkers by bike, ending his journey at Wallsend on July 17.
Wayne said: I wasn’t able to walk it as I couldn’t take nine days off, so I’m going to cycle it with another lad, Matt Holt. We’ll cycle Bury to Carlisle, then meet up with the walkers along Hadrian’s Wall. I cycle 50-60 miles in a weekend anyway with my cycling club.
It was Stuart Johnson who asked me to do it. I owe Stuart a lot so I said yes straightaway, he said.
Wayne was also an England youth international.
