Francis Benali has gone through his toughest ever mental challenge yet and now has the home straight in his sights as he heads to London and then to Southampton on Saturday.

The pain that he has gone through and the mental strength he has needed cannot be underestimated as Francis Benali enters the last week of his Big Run, to put this into perspective by the time he finishes by running into St Mary's at half time in the match against ironically Newcastle United where he started the challenge, he will have covered over 1,000 miles, Lands End to John O'Groats a much used charity route famously by Ian Botham is a mere 874 by the traditional road route.

Today Franny will head towards London and with six clubs to visit it will be a hectic schedule. He will start at QPR on Wednesday and will then head to North London before looping round East & South, ending at Chelsea before he then finally can set the course for home

“The last few days have been incredibly tough,” speaking to the Daily Echo Benali who made more than 300 appearances for Saints in a career spanning from 1988 to 2003 said.

“It all got a bit a much over the weekend and there were a few tears.

“It is a combination of physical exhaustion, hunger, pain from my knees and mental fatigue, but it all got on top of me and I broke down.

“But I really feel like I am through the worst of it.

“I know I still have a long way to go, but it feels a bit like I am on the home straight now.

“Getting to St Mary’s suddenly seems very real, it feels like I am heading towards my home.”

Benali though is taking nothing for granted.

“I learnt very early on during this challenge that I can’t afford to look too far ahead,” he said.

“If I think about what I’m doing too much it all seems so daunting.

“It’s great to have a football stadium to visit at some point in the day because it is something to aim for, but on the days between visiting grounds I am just concentrating on taking one step at a time.

“But it feels like the end is almost in sight now and it is great to think about getting back towards home.”

“This is by far the toughest challenge I have ever done in my life and I can’t wait to get to the finish line,” he said.

“The running is bad enough, but the ice baths are the worst.

“It’s a nice thought knowing I’m never going to have to get in one of them again!”

But Benali knows going through the pain barrier is helping the donations flood in — with all the donations going to Cancer Research UK.

“I know there are a few people who have been waiting to see me suffer before they donated,” Benali laughed.

“It’s great that the donations are really starting to come in now. It definitely helps knowing I have so many people supporting me and counting on me to finish.”

Find out more about the run itself as well as how to donate at

Benali's Big Run

To make a text donation from your mobile phone please text “BIGR55 followed by the amount you would like to donate EG £1, £3, £5, £10” To text number 70070. For example if you wanted to donate £10. Text BIGR55 £10 to 70070

Photo: Action Images

landsdownsaint added 16:11 - Sep 8 That bloke has allways been made of steel mentally even as a kid ! His career was based on guts & determination ...great guy
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