A FOOTBALL team is set to run 400km to raise money for charity after their friend’s sister died of cancer earlier this month.

Empire FC, based in Eastleigh, is made up of a group of old school friends who recently decided to take up the challenge in memory of Gracie Keeping, who died of cancer on January 3.

The 23 players, aged from 27 to 28, will be running individually due to Covid restrictions, and are aiming to run 400km between them.

The players, who play their home games at Sherfield English in Romsey, will be completing the challenge over a 24 hour period and will be tracking their progress using running and cycling app, Strava.

The team's captain, Carl Steadman, said they came up with the idea for the challenge earlier this month, when they were just talking about ways they could all keep fit whilst they couldn’t play football.

Carl said: “For too many years, cancer has taken our friends, family and loved ones.

“This is why we want to fight on behalf of Gracie and make a difference.

“If we go past our target, we’ll just keep going but the most important thing is to spread awareness.”

A Gofundme page was set up, and after just one week, the team raised £2,124 of their £2,500 target.

This money is being donated to Southampton Hospitals Charity, specifically the team on C6 ward at the Teenagers and Young Adults Unit at University Hospital Southampton,who supported Gracie and their family throughout her care.

The run is taking place on February 6, and each player has chosen their own target distance to hit.

The distances range from 5km to 42km, the length of a full marathon and in the last week, the squad has run about 300km in preparation.

Carl added: “No matter what people think about how hard it’s going to be, we just want to push ourselves and go out of our comfort zones.

“We’re used to seeing each other at football, so something like this is hard not to do together but with technology, we can all keep in touch.”

Donate to Empire FC's Gofundme page here.