More than 120 netballers are stepping out to see how many Parish Walk miles they can clock up in a week in aid of two charities.

The idea is the brainchild of Manx Ram and SMP Ballasalla player Rhian Evans, who wanted to support Victim Support and the Manx Solidarity Fund, a trust that has been set up to support the island’s community during the pandemic.

Rhi told the Courier: ’With so many people doing awesome fundraisers at the moment, I was racking my brains for ages trying to think of something the whole netball community could do together to help.

’I figured, with this year’s Parish Walk being cancelled it could be nice to pay homage to it by running/ walking the 85 miles to raise money.’

sign up

Rhi originally expected up to 10 players to sign up - and thought their aim would be to walk 85 miles, the length of the Parish Walk.

But so far, 121 players and their family members have signed up to take part so the challenge has grown into seeing how many times they can walk the length of the Parish Walk in a week.

’For the sake of my legs I was buzzing when so many people immediately said they’d join,’ she said.

’It was touching really, how quickly people band together.’

She added: ’I think, for the most part, in a crisis, all people want to do is help so I kind of wanted to provide an opportunity to accommodate that.

’And it’s a lovely feeling to have all the clubs rally together.’

Participants will submit their daily mileage each day from today (Friday) to next Friday (May 8) on the Manx Netball Association Facebook page.

Everyone taking part is asked to donate a minimum of £5.

There will be a prize for the person who accumulates the most miles over the week.

Rhi thanked fellow SMP Ballasalla player and Manx Netball Association competitions secretary Hollie McGowan and her mum Deborah Evans, one of the Manx Rams team managers, for their help organising the fundraiser.

’It’s both a group effort and a good personal challenge,’ Rhi said.

’And with so many of us, hopefully we can get some decent dosh raised for people who need it.’