Blackpool FC fan runs 270km for Movember to encourage men to talk mental health in memory of his friend and fellow Seasider who died in 2019

Oliver, 32, recalls happy times of attending Blackpool FC games with his friend, Callum.

He’d been ‘the life and soul of the party’, so it was a shock when Callum Fyall took his own life at 27.

Oliver said: “It really took everyone by surprise because he was a really big character. He was always telling jokes and stories. He was good looking and really fit and active. He had a lot going for him.”

The pair had been close since they were 15. They’d been on group holidays, and travelled to watch the Seasiders play at Wembley together.

They’d both lived and worked in Australia - a pure coincidence. We met up while I was out there. It’s the last time I saw him.”

Oliver, who now lives in Brighton, said he thought his friend had been ‘battling demons’ for a few years, but hadn’t really opened up about it.

He had really started to struggle during the Christmas and New Year on 2018, after moving back home to Fleetwood.

He added: “He had lots of friends and a close family. He wasn’t someone you expected to be struggling to that extent. It’s really that typical thing of men not really speaking out and voicing it. Men struggle to talk about their feelings.”

And it has led to changes in his social group.

“Off the back of it our group has got a lot better at being more open. So now we're all checking in with each other to make sure they are okay.”

So now, Oliver wants to encourage more men to speak up about mental health.

He heard about the Move For Movember challenge.

He wanted to take the meaning behind the campaign – to do 60km for the 60 men we lose each hour, every hour, across the world, to suicide.

But but decided to push himself a bit further by running 10k each day in November.

That’s 60km a week, and a grand total of 270 kilometres.

His month-long challenge will include a week in Cleveleys, when he will run along the seafront and visit Callum’s grave in Fleetwood.

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