From Brae to New Jersey – Delting take on marathon mission to raise charity funds
THE PROCLAIMERS famously sang that they would walk 500 miles – and 500 more – to get where they wanted to go.
But for the Delting women’s football team, they will have to repeat that feat more than three times to get to their destination during the World Cup this summer.
The team has decided to take on an epic challenge to walk the equivalent distance between the Brae football pitch and the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, which will host the 2026 World Cup final next month.
While the rest of the world is glued to their television screens, Delting’s players and coaches will be racking up the miles – 3,231 of them, to be precise.
A fundraiser has been launched by the club to support the marathon mission, with funds split between mental health charity Mind Your Head and the club itself.
Delting women’s coach Jakki Grant said players could walk, swim, jog or dance their way to New Jersey (virtually of course) from the start of the World Cup on Thursday until the final on 19 July.
She admitted she was already wondering “why I’ve done this to myself” – with the players having to cover 5,200km across just five weeks.
“We were talking about fundraising stuff, and I suddenly thought, ‘I wonder how far it is from Brae to the World Cup final’,” Grant told Shetland News.
“Come to Brae Days had spoken to us about doing a beat the goalie, but I thought ‘we could do something better than that’.
“Thankfully nearly all of the team have been up for it so far.”
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And if Grant is short of miles heading into the final straight, she has come up with a novel plan to get the team over the line.
“The last weekend of it is my brother-in-law’s wedding,” she said, “so I’m going to have to just dance for the whole night!”
The team trains once a week, with a women’s seven-a-side event being organised in Lerwick once a month recently too.
Grant said the aim was for the team to improve their fitness, while also boosting club coffers and providing essential funding to Mind Your Head.
“There’s only so much we can do with an hour and a half a week,” she said.
“It’s hard to keep fit out of football training, so we thought this challenge could get us out there.”
The team will keep Grant updated with how far they have travelled according to their fitness trackers, with Delting posting a weekly update about their progress.
She said they had selected Mind Your Head to benefit from their fundraiser because of their work to improve people’s mental health – something she said Delting had done for her.
“Mind Your Head stuck out because being in a football team is a massive benefit to people’s mental health, playing together as part of a team.
“I’ve felt the benefit from it, and I thought that’s exactly what Mind Your Head are trying to encourage.”
Grant added it was also important to get money into the club, with some of their equipment shared with the men’s and junior teams and looking worn or old.
She is not heading Stateside for the 2026 World Cup, but was in Germany two years ago to follow Scotland at Euro 2024.
While Grant is a “huge football fan”, she said some of her Delting team-mates came to the club simply because they “wanted to try something different”.
However, with the World Cup kick-off just days away now she said she could feel excitement among the team rising.
“A lot of them have been buying new Scotland stuff and wearing it to training, so you can tell people are getting excited,” she said.
“We’re encouraging them to watch as much of it as they can.”
Delting were the first club to start a full women’s team in Shetland, and have been swiftly followed by Whitedale.
Grant said the women’s seven-a-side events in town have been brilliant for all involved, and said her team have been “absolutely loving it”.
Their focus now is on an outdoor 11-a-side match in early July, with hopes to come up against Whitedale in the near future.
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