Hatters fan releases book about cycling to every Luton Town Premier League match for charity

Mark Crowther from Milton Keynes decided to document his 2,000-mile challenge of cycling to all of Luton Town's away games for the 2023/24 season in his book Hatters, Hills and Heroes. In an historic season, the club’s first in the Premier League, Mark raised thousands for mental health charities, after opening up about his own struggles.

Mark, a business enablement executive, said: “Since my last book, I've had two more challenges. The first one was to cycle to every football ground in the country – 116 grounds in five weeks. Then we got promoted to the Premier League, and I cycled to all the away games in the Premier League.

“A lot of the new book is about mental health, sharing my experiences and trying to raise awareness for a lot of charities. In the last three years, I've raised £38,000 for various charities.”

The 58-year-old has been frank about his mental health battles and was interviewed by the Premier League to share his story in the hope of helping others who are in a similar situation.

He explained: “I've struggled with mental health for 20 years, and back then, it was like a bit of a taboo. It's like you weren't allowed to say that you're struggling. I'm still on that journey, and I never consider it to be a journey where you reach the destination.”

Mark enlisted the help of Tom Lockyer and manager Rob Edwards to write the foreword at the start of his new book, which goes on sale today.

Branching out into writing books after his successful challenges has meant that Mark is more involved with the club than ever, now fully embedded in the Hatters family.

He explained: “Years ago, I just used to go to football, not speak to anyone, come home, because no one knew who I was. I even now struggle with less self esteem, self confidence, self worth.

“Everybody is so full of praise and so complimentary. It took me a while to embrace the compliments and the acknowledgements. I always thought subconsciously they were talking about someone else, so I struggled to take the compliments.

“But it just helps knowing that it's the start of a conversation, and so many people have come up to me and said it's helped them so much so knowing that I'm doing some good and trying to help raise the awareness.”

The book is £16.99, with a portion of the proceeds going to Samaritans and MIND. You can contact Mark on Instagram to get a copy.

He added: “I really opened myself up to sharing my honest thoughts in the hope that it would help one person. The response was just amazing. I'm brutally honest about what I've been through, what I'm going through, because I just feel if it helps one person, then it's been worth it.”