A HIGHLY successful Culcheth Cup event has been staged.

Around 120 players players took part in the walking football tournament, while a substantial amount was raised for charity.

The Culcheth Cup is now an annual event, organised by the independent Culcheth Walking Football Group, and this year 16 teams participated.

There were four from the Culcheth club (the Walkers, the Strollers, the Amblers and the Wanderers), three from Warrington’s EnjoyFootball (Phoenix, Warrington Town and WA5 Dynamos) and the rest from around the north west and North Wales.

All teams played at least three games each in their groups, with the top two from each group progressing to the quarter finals.

Two of the Culcheth teams progressed to the semi-finals, but they were then drawn to play each other.

The final pitted the Strollers against Phoenix, and was won by the Culcheth team 1-0.

But it was not just the football that the men and women footballers excelled at.

All teams were added to the online donating site, allowing players, their friends and families to sponsor their teams.

In all, along with the support from event sponsors, £4,840 was raised for the British Heart Foundation.

Walking football is a growing sport for the over 50s, helping the ‘kid inside’ them to wake up and prolong the enjoyment of kicking a ball, being part of a team, having the usual footie banter and generally enjoying it, while maintaining fitness in later life (both physical and mental). Culcheth’s club started in November 2017 with just seven players and it now has 56 playing members. They meet at at Culcheth High School on Tuesdays at 7pm.

For any more information visit facebook.com/culchethwalkers or email yannis0131@yahoo.com