Mastering the art of long distance running in just under a year is one challenge, but using those skills to fit the equivalent of more than seven marathons into five days is something else entirely.

But that’s the aim of Nathan Flear who will combine his love of football and running with a giant 187 mile run from The Liberty Stadium, Swansea, to Old Trafford, home of Manchester United.

And Nathan, of Capel Hendre, will be doing it to coincide with the Swansea v Man United clash on January 2- meaning he’ll run those miles in the chill of midwinter.

He’ s dubbed it the Swanchester Run 2015-2016 and he’s hoping that it will raise a ton cash for Age Cymru and Variety- the children’s charity which helps disadvantaged children in the north west of England.

The run will begin on December 29 with a starting point of the Liberty Stadium and Nathan hopes to end it time for the Manchester United clash, watching the game once he crosses the finish line.

“I knew I wanted to do something to raise money and just wanted to do something completely different to other fundraising events,” explained Nathan, 32, who owns a business marketing company.

“I’m a Man U fan and I know that Swansea would be travelling up there for the January 2 clash and the idea came from there.

“I’ve only been running since just after Christmas last year. I weighed 16 stone and knew I wanted to do something about my weight. I had run when I was younger so took it up again and it just stuck,” added Nathan who lost five stone through his new regime.

Training for the big event has come the way of several big runs. With a quite a few lengthy runs and half marathons behind him already, including at Cardiff and Chippenham, and the upcoming Gower Ultra 50 challenge on Saturday (October 10), Nathan is certainly training hard.

“I hoping to do around 50 miles or so a day,” explains Nathan. “After leaving Swansea, I’m planning to reach Brecon on the first day and then go from there.

“The goal is to get to old Trafford for the match day and sit a watch a great game. I am hoping that the club might allow me to actually finish by running onto the pitch before kick-off, well that’s the dream.

His idea has gone down well with supporters of both teams and Nathan is currently talking to both clubs, as well as trying to drum-up sponsors for the mammoth task.

Joining him along the route are his main supporters, wife Tori and daughters Skye and Summer.

“They’ll be travelling the route, meeting up with at the end of each day’s run. They always support me 100 per cent. They're my cheerleaders.”

Now all Nathan needs is some people willing to support him in his bid to raise cash.

“I think both charities are really worthy of support, they do fantastic work. Age Cymru do so much in our areas so I really wanted to help them and I thought it was a good idea to find a charity that was local to Old Trafford and Variety was perfect.”

To support Nathan by donating you can do so via his Virgin Money Giving page under his name Nathan Flear.