When you are already feeling unprepared for a looming marathon run, the last thing you want to hear is it is taking place a fortnight earlier than you anticipated. That's what happened for Bristol Rovers boss Joey Barton, who completed the Manchester Marathon on Sunday in support of Nick Anderton.
The 26-year-old, a promotion-winner with the Gas last season, is undergoing chemotherapy after being diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, last year. Gasheads and his coaches and teammates alike have rallied around in support, with a team-wide head shave January raising more than £46,000 for Anderton and his young family.
Rovers fan Nik Weeks, meanwhile, went to extremes in his support. The police sergeant at the Port of Bristol ran an incredible seven marathons in seven days in March, raising more than £11,000 to be shared between Anderton and Bristol Rovers Community Trust.
Barton took part in the head shave, of course, as well as donating £500 to Weeks' fundraiser, but he wanted to go the extra (26.2) mile(s). Soon after Anderton's diagnosis in the summer of 2022, the Rovers boss declared he would run a marathon for his "warrior", and he said he wanted it to be difficult, hence a minimum of training which was compounded by getting his dates mixed up.
"The thing that killed me was I thought it was in two weeks’ time," he laughed. "For some reason, I thought it was April 30. I still didn’t do the requisite training, but I wanted to do it not in great shape so I really suffered.
"I didn’t want to be putting a mad time out there and Weeksy embarrassed me by doing seven in seven days. It’s an incredible achievement from him and it was a bit strange for me, I was doing one and he’s done seven in seven days and I’m meant to be a former thoroughbred professional athlete and this is one of our fans doing a mad endurance thing.
"I did one and how he did seven in seven days, I have no idea. I text him straight away and said ‘You must be mad, how have you got up the next day?’ I feel OK today, but I didn’t do a marathon yesterday and I didn’t have to do one this morning, so hats off to him.
"I said I was going to do it. There were four or five other people who were going to do it, members of our staff, and they all conveniently had an illness or an injury and cried off.
"They thought I was going to do the same and I was tempted for a moment when I found out it was two weeks earlier than I had budgeted for, but I thought it can’t be as bad or as hard as having chemotherapy like Nick.
"I bit down on the gumshield and paced myself nicely. I hit a bit of a wall after about 18 miles, but thankfully the old body held up and I managed to crawl over the finish line."
Barton completed his marathon in four hours exactly, admitting the experience was so gruelling that his immediate thought was "never again". However, a few days on, his view has changed.
"It was my first one and I swore when I finished I wouldn’t do it again unless someone paid me at least £1million, but luckily I had a nice foam roll yesterday and then Leighanne (Kelly), our physio, looked after me today," Barton said.
"I would definitely do another one if it was to raise a few quid for someone. It was worth the pain that I went through and if it can raise a bit of awareness, also for Nik Weeks’ effort which was phenomenal and until you do a marathon, you don’t realise how tough it is to wake up the next morning and do another one and do that for five more days. Incredible effort from Nik and it embarrassed me into doing it."
Midway through the run, Barton tried to contact Anderton. He said: "About 13 miles in, we’re going through Manchester city centre and I took my phone out and Facetimed him as he knew I was doing it, but he absolutely blanked me.
"Then about 20 minutes later, he phoned me back. I was like ‘F****** hell, I’m doing this for you and you haven’t bothered to answer your phone’, so we had a good laugh on the way around.
"When it got tough, I had to channel what Nick and his family are going through and it certainly inspired me to drag my fat carcass around the last four miles. There were some tricky thoughts, especially when you see 60 and 70-year-old women running past you when you think you’re an athlete."
Barton says he is heartened by Gasheads' signals of support for Anderton – who had an operation in the autumn to remove a tumour and is now undergoing chemotherapy – at every game and his absence is sorely felt at The Quarters and the Mem every day.
"He’s just got over halfway through his cycles of chemotherapy now and he has up and down moments, and I think the lads are superb with their support for him," Barton said. "Everyone’s on the phone to him and just keeping him in our thoughts, whether it’s raising awareness through fans like Nik Weeks and the ribbons they are selling in the stadium or the applause in the 16th minute every week.
"It’s about him constantly knowing we’re thinking about him and we miss Nick. He was a fantastic team man, a really good influence around the place and we can’t wait to get him back with us.
"When we’ve lost today and we think times are hard, we just have to think of Nick and his family and it puts a lot of things into perspective."
To donate to the fundraising appeal for Nick Anderton and his family, click here
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