With Carlisle United Football Club...Cumbrian FIA World Rally Championship driver Matthew Wilson trained with Carlisle United Football Club last week in a bid to further his rigorous mid-season training regime and the full-time driver for the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford team
relished the opportunity to train with his favourite football club.
Stobart Motorsport finally met Stobart Football for the first time in its prosperous history as Eddie Stobart Ltd continues to show support within the Cumbrian community through, amongst others, many sectors of the sporting industry.
With the WRC currently in its two-month summer break the 20-year-old, from Cockermouth, took the opportunity to work on his fitness in a different form when he was run through several skill and fitness routines with the League One front runners.
After a couple of laps round the ground Wilson was taken through an intense passing drill with Carlisle United's first team. CUFC manager Neil McDonald then took him through a match-speed attacking drill where he was teamed up with the side's top strikers.
As a gesture of local support, McDonald and his team presented Wilson with his own match-spec CUFC jersey with his name and current WRC entrant number, #16, printed on the back.
Training plays a huge part in the success of any professional athlete and the players at CUFC were very welcoming to the young rally speedster who was able to swap valuable training tips with the team. Wilson's next WRC event will be Neste Oil Rally Finland, round 9 of the 2007 championship, kicking off on Thursday 2 August.
Matthew Wilson
“It was a really good day and something different to the regular training routine which was fun. The ground was quite amazing. The actual size of it and the condition of the pitch itself was incredible and I have never played on anything that good before. The training drills were certainly not easy especially the first one-two passing drill we did, I can see why these guys are so good, the co-ordination you need has to be so sharp. Getting an idea of what other sportspeople do to keep fit always helps with your own preparations. It was great meeting the team and their manager Neil (McDonald) and they are a nice bunch of guys; I will definitely try to get to more of the games next season when I'm at home.”
Source Stobart VK M-Sport Ford
