Football coach dribbles his way across Africa in memory of his dad 

The man dribbling a football 2,000 miles from Africa to beat the World Cup final whistle

An intrepid fundraiser who is attempting to dribble a football more than 2,000 miles from Africa to Staffordshire has completed his first week on the road and is already making strong progress.

James Lewis, a 26-year-old football coach from Rugeley, set off from Marrakech on 1 May and is now in Rabat, the capital of Morocco, having already covered almost 300 miles through the country. 

His route will take him by ferry into Spain, through Gibraltar, Madrid and the Pyrenees, before heading through France and back into England, with the aim of reaching Rugeley by 19 July, the date of the World Cup final.

James is running approximately 30 miles a day, solo and carrying a 15-kilogram pack, and is filming the entire challenge, with daily updates and a live location tracker available on his social media channels.

The challenge is deeply personal. James lost his father, David Lewis, when he was just 11 years old. David was cared for at St Giles Hospice, and it was that experience which first inspired James to fundraise for the charity. Over the last three years James has raised over £55,000 to for St Giles through a series of increasingly ambitious challenges. This is by far his biggest yet, with a fundraising target of £100,000. He has already raised over £6000 (6%) of his target, before completing his first week on the road.

James said: “It is going really well. It is hot all day and everyday though so I’m having to be careful to protect myself from sunburn. The days are very long, and I’m running for about 10 hours a day, so there is little time to relax. It is an exhausting challenge but I’m on schedule to hit my ferry on time in a few days. Thank you to everyone who has supported me so far

Elinor Eustace, Chief Executive of St Giles Hospice, said: “James is an inspiration to us all. What he is taking on is extraordinary, and the fact that he is doing it in memory of his father, who was cared for at St Giles, makes it all the more meaningful. We are so grateful for his dedication and we will be cheering him on every single step of the way.”

To follow James’s progress and donate, visitwww.justgiving.com/page/jameslewis26 or search @XJamesLewis on Instagram, James Lewis on Facebook or @jameslewisruns on Tiktok.