Ex-Melksham football star beats ‘The Beast’!

FORMER Melksham professional footballer, Matthew Bound, has conquered the charity challenge nicknamed ‘The Beast’, raising over £15,000 for charity.

Matthew, who grew up in Melksham and went on to play for Southampton and Swansea, ran a total of 465 miles across 30 days in November last year.

The money raised smashes Matthew’s original fundraising target of £3,000 for the Ben Saunders Foundation, the charity set up in memory of an ex-teammate’s son, Ben Saunders, who died in August last year, at the age of 18, after being diagnosed with cancer.

“When I signed up for the Beast Challenge I wasn’t sure if I would be able to complete it, but the support that I received from day one was nothing short of overwhelming,” said Matthew speaking to Melksham News. “Of the 30 days that the challenge lasted I only ran alone once, as lots of friends and people I didn’t even know gave up their time to run with me, to help me along the way. 

“Originally I set a fundraising target of £3,000, which I thought was optimistic, but we smashed that in the first week. This challenge has now raised over £15,000 for the Ben Saunders Foundation which is phenomenal and far beyond our wildest dreams. 

“The last week was tough, running 189 miles in 7 days, and five marathons on consecutive days, but the fundraising and the support helped to get me through.”

For more information about the Ben Saunders Foundation, visit the website: www.bensaundersfoundation.org   

Picture: Matthew Bound (left) with ex-British Lions and Wales rugby international player, Ryan Jones, who was also taking part in ‘The Beast’ challenge.