• 7 months ago
GLASGOW. Hampden Park.

Walking '500 miles' and '500 miles more' for men's mental health is an epic feat worthy of support – Scotsman comment
Craig Ferguson is walking from Glasgow to Munich, in time for the Scotland-Germany game in Euro 2024, in aid of the men’s mental health charity, Brothers In Arms Scotland

There can be few people in Scotland who are unaware that the requisite walking distance to demonstrate the ultimate in commitment is 1,000 miles. Or, to put it another way, “500 miles” and then “500 more”.

The Proclaimers famously set the benchmark and 20-year-old Craig Ferguson is about to embark on a journey of that daunting length, walking from Glasgow to Munich. He aims to arrive in time for the opening game of Euro 2024, between Scotland and Germany.

Ferguson had wanted to raise £10,000 for men’s mental health charity Brothers in Arms, but has already beaten that target and hopes for £50,000 instead. "When the going gets tough, I'll remind myself why I'm doing it and think of the 12 men that take their own lives every single day in the UK,” he said.

His journey can be followed at Brothers In Arms Scotland’s website and donations can be made on his JustGiving.com webpage, “iwouldwalk1000milesformensmentalhealth”. We hope, if he ‘falls down at the Allianz Arena’s door’, he’s able to get up to watch a glorious moment in Scottish footballing history. Best wishes.

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00:00Who thinks I'm gonna walk 1,000 miles? And well, when I was thinking of this idea, you
00:14know, it was something that I thought there was real possibility here for amazing fundraising
00:21and when I thought that we could raise the issue of spreading awareness of men's mental
00:25health, that was really what I wanted to do and I'm super proud that so far we've already
00:28hit the target and we're on our way in about 30 minutes. It would be rude not to do the
00:33full 1,000 miles in the Scottish kilt, so yeah, absolutely, and I think one of the magical
00:38things about this challenge is, you know, walking through six different countries all
00:42while wearing the kilt is a real talking point and if we can use that talking point to spread
00:46awareness for men's mental health, then amazing. It was a really weird feeling, you know, packing
00:50my bag thinking this is gonna be my house for what's gonna be the next month, so I've
00:55got everything packed, you know, ziplock bags, everything all separated into different compartments,
00:59two pairs of trainers but I might need to pick another pair up along the way. I think
01:03with something like this, you know, there's only so much you can plan for being back in
01:06the house but you really sort of learn a bit more about it as you're doing it as well,
01:09so I'm ready for whatever challenges come my way and yeah, bring it on. I think that
01:14final stretch into Munich is really gonna hit home as well, I think that's a part that
01:17I'm really looking forward to. It was quite a funny one, you know, when the draw was getting
01:21done, I was thinking, right, where is this game gonna be and I thought, right, what possible
01:25cities could it be? Anywhere but Munich would have been ideal and of course, Scotland draw
01:30Germany opening fixture in Munich so, but you know, I think there's something magical
01:34as well about the fact that it is the opening game and you know, it just really, really,
01:37you know, hits that message home as well but yeah, I'm super, super looking forward to it.
01:42I think the craziest part about the whole thing is the fact that I don't have a ticket,
01:45you know, everyone's like, you must have a ticket if you're going all that way but no,
01:49I don't have a ticket yet, I mean, if anyone watching this is able to put me in the right
01:52direction then I'll be happy with that but at the moment, I don't but you know, the worst
01:57case scenario is that we get to Munich, no ticket, I go to a fan zone and we've still
02:01raised over £10,000 for a great, great cause so...

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