Cycling 900 miles for Truro City FC match was 'work of a madman'
Fan cycles 900 miles to support football teamA football fan cycled more than 900 miles from Cornwall to Tyne and Wear to see his football team play in the National League says he had a "quite incredible" response to his trip.Chris Willian travelled 914 miles (1,471km) on two manually-powered wheels from the county to see his team Truro City FC face Gateshead on Saturday.The team drew with a 2-2 result, which 185 fans travelled to watch in what was the longest journey in English league football history.Mr Willian said his journey "really was the work of a madman" when he was cycling late into the night with the darkness, wind and rain working against him.He said: "I knew it would be a challenge, I knew it would be touch and go with the weather, and I thought: 'The opportunity's there, why not give it a go?'""First and foremost, I just wanted to be at the game, so I made sure I actually had booked the Friday off work so I could get there whatever."Mr Willian said that, when he arrived, he received a warm welcome from people who had been following his journey on social media.He said: "I was just amazed at the reaction I got."By the time I got to the pub which is close to the ground I was completely blown away by the people who came up to give me a hug, handshake, congratulate me."I lost count the amount of people who came up and spoke to me, quite incredible actually."Mr Willian added that it was "one of the best atmospheres I've seen in a game".'The better team'Fan Tim Ratcliffe, who made the journey from Mevgaissey, said the team "played very well" in the first half of the match.He said: "Truro were by far the better team, they scored two great goals."It looked like we were finally going to get that illusive first win but it wasn't to be."Mr Ratcliffe said the positive was that he did not have to make the trip again."Would I do it again? Probably not. But would I have missed it? Absolutely not."
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