Man completes challenge dribbling ball from Africa

A man has arrived home in Staffordshire after dribbling a ball from Africa to raise money for charity.

James Lewis started the Africa to Rugeley Football Run challenge in Marrakesh, Morocco, in May and has raised more than £65,000 for St Giles Hospice, which cared for his dad when he was younger.

He made it home to Rugeley on Saturday, finishing at The Chase pub at around 18:00 BST and said the challenge had been "an emotional rollercoaster".

"The environment my dad spent his final days in was made that much more special and I'm hoping to raise as much as I can so the hospice can continue to care for people," he said.

St Giles Hospice made his father's last days "a lot easier" thanks to their care, Lewis said.

Lewis wrote on Facebook that he was "ready to come home", and after hearing lots of kind words, he realised he wouldn't be "keeping his cool" on arrival into Rugeley.

"Thank you to Jordan and Liv for putting me up at their place last night - clothes washed and belly filled," he said, as he described his journey through England.

He travelled through Coventry on Friday and dealt with challenges like punctured footballs on his journey, where friends brought new replacement balls instead.

"There was a couple of times where I spent two nights back-to-back sleeping at the side of roads, on the floor," Lewis said.

He added that the one thing he was looking forward to the most was a haircut, as he had not had one in almost 15 weeks.

Over the course of the challenge, Lewis said that he had learnt to "follow the ball" instead of "trying to control the ball".

"If I tried to control the ball the whole way, I'd just end up spending so much energy I'd make it harder for myself," he said.

His previous challenges have included running blindfolded for 24 hours and running from Paris to Rugeley.

A spokesperson for St Giles Hospice said that Lewis' challenge meant "an awful lot" to the charity.

"We understand that James is our biggest individual fundraiser," they said.

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