I WAS incredibly grateful to see the support of this year's 'Benali on Tour' with sign-ups filled within a record 48 hours.

There is always an ongoing need for the work Saints Foundation does around the city and that work needs to be funded.

The support for Saints Foundation is always growing but it is obvious there is a big demand and last year's challenge was always us dipping our toe in.

We wanted to go to the South Downs and see how it went intending to step it up in the future, scaling things up a little bit.

Last year, it was amazing - it was very different, with a group of fellow trekkers, to the challenges I had done previously.

I was not running, cycling, or in a pool, and it became more of a chance to spend time with people talking throughout the whole trip - and especially on the trek.

We had a good team navigating us around the route and that was organised brilliantly well. Although, there were some aching limbs at the end.

There is the added interest and excitement of knowing we're scaling things up with this challenge and the Yorkshire Three Peaks are a part of the world I have not seen before.

I was hoping people would come on board and help me raise funds for Saints Foundation and it is a perfect time of year to focus and work towards something.

I know having a goal to work towards helps me focus my training, when there is something like this in the diary.

Each challenge should be looked at in its own right and clearly, I have done some extreme things in the past.

The South Downs challenge last year; some might say it is just walking but every single one of us knew we had been through it by the end of the day.

The added altitude to climb this year is a new task but that is what it is all about, and we have the connection with the football club as a bonus.

We will go on to watch Saints versus Leeds United at Elland Road in what could be a hugely important fixture.

Leeds will be looking to be in and around us on the final day and right now, it looks like it could shape up to be a vital match in the promotion race.

From experience, I have found the reward of stepping outside your comfort zone to be fantastic and lots of people may have thought: "I can't do that."

If you never try, you will never find out. For me, it is always about a community feeling with everyone looking out for each other.

It will be a brilliant weekend and one I am so pleased about with everybody already showing their support.

I also wanted to wish Eastleigh Football Club all the very best for their FA Cup third round replay with Newport County next week.

I am sure that you are aware, as everyone in the area is, that the winners of that tie will host 12-time cup winners Manchester United.

They did so well to beat Reading in the last round and they would have been hoping to have had a great draw in this round.

That is not to show any disrespect to Newport, though, and that will be a very tough game to get through.

What a prize it is to know that, if they get through, they will have potentially the biggest game in their history.

Man United rocking up at the Silverlake - I wish them the very best on Tuesday and hope to see them get to that in the next round.