‘It’s a long month’: Doncaster’s Grant McCann on running 200 miles to tackle prostate cancer
“I I’ll tell you what’s really fun when you’re running around Doncaster in the morning,” says Grant McCann, “when you hear people honking their horns and waving out the window.” Those bits of encouragement are invaluable boosts for the month-long annual program Prostate United Challengewhich involves running, walking or cycling every day to raise money and awareness for Prostate Cancer UK. McCann, his coaching staff, club staff and Doncaster Rovers supporters will finish at the club’s stadium on Thursday afternoon. “We have managed to get more than 60 people involved on the Doncaster page this year – everyone is doing something,” says the manager. “It has brought the whole club together with the camaraderie all around.”
McCann, his assistant Cliff Byrne, and Rovers’ record appearance maker and now head of recruitment, James Coppinger, have been running 10km every day this month. “Copps could probably still play, given where he is right now, with all these runs,” McCann said. Some McCann employees take it more seriously than others. “Some of them are trying to break all kinds of records with their time, but I’m too long in the tooth for that,” he says, smiling. “It’s not about breaking records on day 15… it’s a long, long month.” By the end, McCann will have clocked 300 kilometers in October. “The legs are tired, the body aches, your mind plays tricks on me every morning when I go out. But we are almost there, there are only three days to go.”
In July, McCann and Byrne swapped club tracksuits for white lab coats when they visited the University of Nottingham’s Biodiscovery Institute and met Professor Nigel Mongan and his team, who are leading research into the most common cancer in men. As the number 45 Prostate United shirts that McCann and co donned in October show: every 45 minutes one man dies from prostate cancer.
“They are constantly trying to find a cure. I know they will get to the bottom of it and find solutions because when they talk to the professors, they don’t think they are too far away,” McCann said. “It opened my eyes to how much everything costs… If our efforts can help in any way, we would love to do so. Hopefully we can make a difference. It was a great day to go see what they do. The people, how hard they work, the machines; it is an incredible place.”
Grant McCann (right) and his Doncaster assistant Cliff Byrne (second from left) during a visit to the University of Nottingham’s Biodiscovery Institute
McCann’s interest arose after working with Stephen Gilpin, now head of academy performance at Wolves, at Hull City in 2019-20. Gilpin, whose grandfather Norman died of prostate cancer in 2012, co-founded the Prostate United Challenge while working as chief medical officer at Rotherham, alongside Ross Burbeary, now head of performance at Huddersfield.
“He (Gilpin) told me about the challenge and I went home thinking about the family members, friends, people I have known who have been affected by this disease.” Last week, one of McCann’s friends told him about his diagnosis. McCann has completed the challenge as manager of Hull, Peterborough and Doncaster. Some routes were more dangerous than others.
“I’d drive to Hull, park and run across the Humber Bridge, or park and run along the A1,” he grins. “It was brilliant to be able to bring football clubs together and get everyone involved. You hear stories about people’s families, fathers, uncles, grandfathers and it just touches you. People may get bored when I post my runs on social media on X and Strava, but we do it for a reason: to raise awareness and to help people understand that this disease is costing too many lives.”
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Doncaster are one of dozens of clubs taking part in the challenge, which has raised more than £237,000 for charity so far this year. McCann and his team are again at the top of the rankings after raising almost £30,000, surpassing Rovers’ £18,000 last year. Six years later, Prostate United is approaching the magical milestone of £1 million. On the pitch, meanwhile, Doncaster sit fourth in the fourth tier, four points off the top after an impressive win at Bradford last Saturday. “If we could win the Prostate United Challenge and League Two that would be brilliant. We will continue to work hard on that.”
McCann and his staff tend to run before practices or games, the next of which could be an odd occurrence. McCann’s eldest son Bayley could be in the opposition team when Doncaster visit Barnsley in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday. “I don’t know who’s going to support my wife, Kelly, or my other two boys,” the 44-year-old said. “I never thought I would meet my son when I went into management. I might wind him up and tell him I’m going to put our best player on him to wake him up a bit… If he plays I want him to do very, very well and be man of the match but I want us to win.”