Thirteen cyclists aim to cycle from Edenvale down to Durban to create awareness and promote understanding amongst men about testicular cancer.
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The cyclists plan on cycling from Riaan Pools in Edenvale down to Durban over the course of five days.
Mr Colin McCourt, an Edenvale resident and tour coordinator of the initiative said, that the initiative aims to raise awareness about testicular cancer in men and raise funds for the Love Your Nuts foundation.
He said that the Love Your Nuts foundation aims to promote knowledge in men to be more aware about testicular cancer.
“Although we do have six corporate sponsors and have raised about R30 000 for the Love Your Nuts foundation, we want the focus of this initiative to be more on creating awareness rather than fund-raising,” said Mr McCourt.
Mr McCourt got involved in the Love Your Nuts foundation two years ago when a fellow referee and friend from the Golden Lions Rugby Referees’ Society was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
“I just decided to get involved with the foundation and found that there was very little information about testicular cancer,” said Mr McCourt.
The team of 13 cyclists and three support members will travel 756km in total during the five-day initiative.
The trip will see the team travel:
- 140km from Edenvale to Oranjeville on the first day.
- 210km on the second day to Clarence.
- 130km on the third day to Bergville.
- 170km on the fourth day to Pietermaritzburg.
- In the fifth and final leg the group will take part in the 106km long Amashova Durban Classic Race down to Durban.
According to Mr McCourt the average age for the team is 45-50 years old.”Our oldest participant is 76 years old while our youngest is 36,” said Mr McCourt.
The team, which is mainly comprised of Edenvale residents, a few Kempton Park residents and one person from Pretoria, has been practising as often as possible for the long journey.
“The team is doing good, they have been training for the past eight months,” said Mr McCourt.
Mr McCourt said that although he feels training has been going well he is worried about how his body will cope with the cycling and the hills on the journey.
“In Johannesburg we are about 1 600m above sea level. To get down to Durban we will have to climb about 8 900m up,” he said.
To try and create more awareness about testicular cancer, Mr McCourt said that he is involved with the Wasps junior rugby team and holds educational talks at schools with the help of the rugby club.
“It’s generally a 15-minute discussion with the boys at the schools just to try promote awareness,” said Mr McCourt.
The group of 16 are going to depart from Edenvale on October 12 from Riaan Pools and will leave at 8am.
If individuals or companies want to help the group fund-raise they can do so by getting in contact with Mr McCourt on 083 447 5556.
