Daring to run in Speedos
SEDGEFIELD – More than 50 men donned their running shoes and purple Speedos to gather at Café Vienna for the annual Hollard Daredevil Run on Friday 30 September. The run is held every year to raise awareness of prostate and testicular cancer.
Testicular cancer is the most common cancer affecting males between the ages of 15 and 35. Prostate cancer affects as many as one in six men and is predicted to become the most common cancer in South Africa by 2030. Early detection, however, dramatically increases the odds of fully recovering these two cancers.
Hundreds of runners in the Western Cape took part in the Daredevil Run, with groups running in Hout Bay, Cape Town (city and suburbs) and Sedgefield.
"Running in just a Speedo is something that asks a lot of men - more than most people understand," says Warwick Bloom, head of PR at Hollard.
"But dealing with cancer asks a great deal more. And that's part of why this platform works so well in helping people understand the importance of catching these cancers early."
For Shelley van Eden Vorster, owner of Café Vienna and coorganiser of the Sedgefield run, tackling cancer head-on and raising awareness is very personal. "My father passed away from cancer, and my uncle is currently fighting cancer, so it's a big thing in my family and I think that everyone just needs to know that it's not just the women and children that get cancer, but also the men," said Van Eden Vorster, who is also the president of the Sedgefield Lions Club.
"We as a community - Sedgefield, the Garden Route - need to get more involved in these types of events and put it out there for everyone to see. So I am putting it out there as a challenge to the whole of the Garden Route to join us here in Sedgefield in 2023 for the next Daredevil Run."
Mike Wood is also one of the organisers, and one of the people who approached Van Eden Vorster to organise the first Daredevil Run in Sedgefield last year. "I do this because I want to raise awareness of the scourge of the modern man - guys are getting cancer and not knowing about it and not treating it," he said. "I lost a very very very good friend through testicular and prostate cancer and it killed him within three weeks of diagnosis. He didn't know he had it. Don't stand by idly. Man up and go get tested."
Heidi Brauer, chief marketing officer at Hollard, was proud to see the countrywide participation. "We are blown away by the support we have received today [Friday] from around the country. The act of stripping down to nothing but a Speedo is not only daunting for runners, but also challenges stereotypical male behaviour, which often stops men from tackling health issues," he said. "With this event, we are asking South African men to confront male cancers head-on by showing that they're not afraid to run in a Speedo, not afraid to talk about cancer and not afraid to get checked."