Harlequins CEO geared up for his long walk. Photograph: Jonny Payne

Harlequins’ chief executive Mark Evans has set off on his gruelling six-day walk around London in aid of the children’s charity Friends United Network (FUN).

Londonfile caught up with Evans before he took to the streets on Monday morning from the illustrious setting of Erith Railway Station. He gave his reasons for taking part: “I believe in it as an organisation. I think the kind of work they do is vital, particularly in urban areas. I’ve done the marathon in the last couple of years so I fancied doing something a bit different, so I put the two together really,” he said.

The walk encompasses 150 miles around London passing through Hayes, Uxbridge and Borehamwood before ending up in Purfleet on Friday. Evans will walk an average of 25 miles per day, which is equivalent to a marathon every day. He is prepared for the challenges ahead, he said: “We’ll see; ask me in about two or three days time. I have done a bit of preparation, but it’s a long way.”

Evans and his companions on the walk are hoping to raise £20,000 pounds for the charity. Jane Young, Fundraising Manager for FUN said: “It’s the first time we’ve put it on and we were trying to find something that was a real challenge. It was specifically designed for him actually because he’s run the marathon a couple of times, so we chose something that he hasn’t done but he would see as a real challenge.”

Young realises the importance of involving high-profile people such as Evans to raise funds for the charity . Young describes the work the organisation does.
“We match adult ‘befrienders’ with children from disadvantaged single parent homes in London, where the children are lacking the adult support they need. We’re unusual because our volunteers make a minimum two-year commitment to a particular child, there is a lot of short-term mentoring going on but very little long-term mentoring, and we think is really what children need.”

The longest friendship created through FUN has now been for over 20 years according to Young and with help from Evans and his friends there will surely be more long-term friendships created in the future.