Mansfield Town employees take part in epic nationwide relay to help learn CPR skills

The Sky Bet Every Minute Matters Relay, which kicked off on March 25, was a gruelling 4,000-kilometer 28-day journey that featured an incredible 72 legs stopping off at each and every EFL club before culminating at Wembley on Monday, April 21.

The truly unique charity event saw supporters of each EFL club team up with former football stars and celebrity fans to either run, walk or cycle each leg.

Mansfield Town employees completed a 29.6km run between Field Mill and Chesterfield’s SMH Group Stadium on Wednesday, April 16, as part of the relay

Big name footie icons and celebrities involved in the nationwide relay included Big Sam Allardyce; Jack Wilshere, Graeme Souness, Tom Lockyer, Glenn Hoddle, Dion Dublin, Troy Deeney, Elis James, Robert Lindsey and Sir Tony Robinson.

CPR can make the difference between life and death. Each month more than 2,500 people suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the UK and tragically less than one in 10 survive, often because those around them don’t have the confidence to perform CPR. Every minute that passes reduces the chances of survival by 10 per cent.

Dr Charmaine Griffiths, chief executive at the British Heart Foundation (BHF), said: “The Every Minute Matters campaign is truly lifesaving.

“Hundreds of thousands of people have already been encouraged to learn CPR, and through the efforts of participants and talent taking part in Sky Bet’s Relay, we know many more will be inspired to learn this vital skill.

“We want to thank them in joining the BHF’s mission to ensure more lives are saved from out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.”

The Sky Bet Relay comes almost a year after Sky Bet teamed up with the British Heart Foundation to launch Every Minute Matters with the goal of encouraging an incredible 270,000 to learn CPR by the end of the 2024-2025 football season – equivalent to three Wembley Stadiums.

The campaign has smashed that target with almost two months to go and are setting a brave new ambition to reach 360,000 – four times the capacity of Wembley Stadium by the 24/25 Sky Bet EFL play-offs in May.

Sky Bet separately pledged £3 million to the British Heart Foundation – based on the goals scored by EFL players up and down the country. In February alone, Sky Bet donated £550,000 based on the 445 goals scored during the month – and 11 winning goals in extra time.

Fans can show their support by learning CPR in just 15 minutes with the help of the BHFs free, simple and easy to use online tool, RevivR.