Wigan footballer goes the extra miles in unique charity effort
A footballer from Wigan has gone the extra mile - more than 26 in fact - in a fundraiser for a charity very close to her heart.
Ella Schickhoff was a member of the Wigan Athletic Women’s team during their inaugural campaign last season, but hasn't played this season after she sustained a serious knee injury.
Having caught the running bug during her rehab, Ella targeted the Manchester Marathon last month - only for illness to prevent her making the start line.
However, the 27-year-old was determined to get the miles in, so she decided instead to run around the Brick Community Stadium - a whopping 42 times!
Her fundraising is already at the £2,500 mark - which will go to the Mind charity, in memory of her dad Hans-Peter and brother Markus.
"It genuinely means the world," she said. "The reason is personal. I lost my dad to mental health issues in 2018, and then lost my brother in 2022.
"This marathon was for them, and also to raise awareness that people struggling with mental health deserve support, understanding and help.
"I was originally due to run the Manchester Marathon, but I couldn’t make it to the start line. Rather than leaving it there, I decided to create my own marathon route at the stadium instead.
"I’m a lifelong Wigan Athletic fan and I also work for Wigan Athletic Community Trust. Doing it around the stadium felt like the most 'Wigan' way possible to still complete the challenge!”
After undergoing knee surgery just over a year ago, Ella had been in training since January with Manchester in mind – only for fate to intervene.
"When I couldn’t do the Manchester Marathon, I felt absolutely gutted,” she said. “I’d trained hard and, through the generous donations of so many people, had raised more than £2,000 for Mind.
"So it honestly felt like I’d let myself and other people down. But I couldn’t leave it unfinished, so I knew I had to find another way to do it.
"I grew up coming here to the stadium with my dad. We had season tickets and spent countless Saturdays together watching Wigan, especially during the golden Premier League years.
"This place holds a lot of memories for me, so it felt like the right place to do something that meant so much.
"Doing 42 laps was honestly brutal. Physically it was hard, but mentally it was on another level. There’s no crowd, no change of scenery, no big marathon atmosphere to carry you, it’s just you, your thoughts and the same loop over and over again.
"In a strange way, though, that’s what made it so meaningful. It forced me to dig deep, and it felt like a powerful representation of the daily reality for people living with mental health struggles or grief.
"This was much bigger than running, it was about doing something in their name and raising money for Mind, to hopefully help people who don’t deserve to feel like their place in this world isn’t worthy.
"I had friends, family and even work colleagues coming down to run laps with me, and that support honestly got me through. Every lap felt like someone was carrying me when I couldn’t do it myself."
Ella’s fundraising page remains open.