Why Grant McCann and Doncaster Rovers are lacing up for prostate cancer in October

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men and one in eight men will be diagnosed with the disease in their lifetime.

It kills one man every 45 minutes.

Prostate cancer awareness and fundraising campaigns have become increasingly common in football and in 2018 Rovers’ former head of sports science, Ross Burbeary, together with his then colleague at Rotherham United, Stephen Gilpion, set up Prostate United.

Prostate United is an annual challenge bringing the football family together to walk, run or cycle every day for one month.

Its participants include Grant McCann and Cliff Byrne, who want to continue their tradition of getting as many people as possible involved, including fans, at Doncaster.

McCann and Byrne teamed up with staff at their previous clubs, Hull City and Peterborough United, to raise almost £8,000 in 2021 and a further £13,600 last year.

They will be running 5K every day throughout October – but anyone taking part has the option of walking as little as 3K a day or running up to 10K or cycling up to 25K.

“Steve Gilpion was one of our physios at Hull and we saw him doing that challenge every day – and we got to know why he was doing it – and it struck a cord with people,” said McCann.

"At Hull, a lot of the staff had family members affected by this, me included.

"It just seemed to get bigger, all different departments did it. Same at Peterborough.

"It (the challenge) is going to be tough but we are looking forward to it.”

Up to 20 members of staff at Doncaster will take part in this year’s challenge.

McCann and Byrne will be joined by the club’s chief executive Gavin Baldwin, club secretary Adam Grice, goalkeeper coach Kyle Letheren, head of performance analysis Ryan Simpson and head of sports science Sam Bowring, among others.

"Cliff loves trying to beat people’s times, he’s very competitive” McCann said of his speedy assistant, who regularly comes in at under 25 minutes.

"You do feel better after every one. For me, it’s just about completing them.”

McCann plans to invite Rovers fans to take part in the runs with himself and other staff members.

Seren Evans, head of events and community fundraising at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “We’re so grateful for the continued support of Grant McCann and so many others during our Prostate United campaign.

“Since 2018 the football family has helped us raise more than £340,000 by running, cycling and walking, and this year Prostate United will be bigger and better with supporters joining the challenge too.

“Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, and an early diagnosis can save your life. Money raised will fund ground-breaking research towards a screening programme, so we can catch prostate cancer early and save lives.

“Having managers and familiar faces like Grant continuing to support our work will always resonate with the supporters, just like when they wear our man of men badge on the touchline. Good luck to Grant and everyone taking part in this year’s challenge.”

You can donate to the Rovers fundraiser at https://www.justgiving.com/team/doncasterrovers

Fans can also join the Doncaster team for Prostate United HERE.