Reading and Wycombe Unite for 24-Hour CPR Challenge

Reading and Wycombe Wanderers will put their rivalry to one side this month to throw their weight behind a gruelling, lifesaving 24-hour CPR challenge – and they want their fans and local businesses on the frontline with them.

Both clubs are supporting South Central Ambulance Service’s charity CPR-A-THON, a round-the-clock test of stamina and solidarity that will take place at their respective grounds in the days leading up to their League One clash.

The concept is brutally simple. Teams of up to 10 people will line up around a CPR manikin and take turns delivering 30 chest compressions before handing over to the next teammate. Then they go again. And again. For 24 hours straight.

The clock starts at 10:00 on 24 September and doesn’t stop until 10:00 on 25 September. Less than 48 hours later, at 15:00 on 26 September, the Royals and the Chairboys will meet at Adams Park with league points on the line – but the real work will already have been done.

Each participant is being asked to raise a minimum of £150, setting a target of £1,500 for a full team of 10. The money goes to the South Central Ambulance Service charity, but the organisers insist this is about far more than fundraising totals.

Sarah Callaghan, the charity’s volunteer manager, wants the event to be a catalyst.

She described the CPR-A-THON as something designed to “bring communities together” and stressed that the challenge is about arming ordinary people with the confidence to step in when a cardiac arrest strikes. “Every compression counts,” she said, underlining that those taking part will be learning and practising a skill that could one day save the life of a colleague, friend or loved one.

From the Reading boardroom, the message is the same. Managing director Neil Peters underlined how the usual battle lines vanish when the subject is survival. “There may be plenty of rivalry on the pitch, but when it comes to saving lives, Reading and Wycombe are firmly on the same team,” he said.

At Wycombe, the call to arms is going out across the town. Head of media Matt Cecil urged businesses and Chairboys supporters to form teams, head to Adams Park and take on a challenge that will not only raise money for a vital local cause, but also equip people with skills that could mean the difference between life and death.

The derby will have its own edge when the whistle blows. Before that, though, both clubs are asking their communities a different question: who’s willing to step up to the manikin and keep a heartbeat going?