With the Club’s Prostate United 2021 challenge now in full swing, one of the backroom staff involved, Russell Cleave, has given his own progress report after a gruelling first week.
Gulls’ Head of Medical Kai Hepworth has formed an admirable team to represent the Club, by joining forces with Cleave, Kenny Griffiths, Louie Birkenshaw, Andy Roberts and Ryan Scholes to run 5km or cycle 15km every day throughout the month of November in order to raise awareness of prostate cancer, and fundraise for Prostate Cancer UK has provided.
For Russell, who combines his role as Kit Manager at Plainmoor with that of Sports Therapist, it’s proven to be quite a juggling act.
“It’s not just doing the running or the biking, trying to find that time you need everyday to do it, when you’ve got other things you’re trying to do is the hardest thing, but due to the cause, you find that 30 minutes or 40 minutes in the afternoon or morning, early doors.
“It’s going alright. We are all trying to find the time to fit it in but we are all getting there. Some of us are doing it early, some of us are doing it later in the afternoon. We are either biking or running, we are getting in there, and we are enjoying it. It’s a good cause.”
Prostate Cancer UK has a simple ambition – to stop prostate cancer damaging the lives of men and their families, with the disease being the most common cancer in men. Statistics show that 1 in all 8 men are diagnosed in their lifetime, or even more alarmingly, 1 in 4 black men.
“One of us will always be affected by cancer,” says Cleave.
“I’ve been affected by it personally, and within my family, and the Club has always supported me. It’s a disease that no one really wants, so that’s why we try and do it. I had knee surgery not so long ago, so for me I’m using the bike option a bit more than the others, am I’m trying to rehab back my knee anyway. I’m trying not to pound the pavement.
“We are all fit, but it’s not something we do regularly – we don’t go and run 5km or 10km everyday without fail. We don’t have a rest day, so it’s not like you get to Sunday and you have a rest day. It’s everyday of the month, so we know we have just got to push through the month and see what we have raised at the end, hopefully we raise a fair bit of money for what is a good charity.”
Far from competing against each other, the camaraderie amongst the group is clear to see, as all six unite for one common cause.
“We are all doing different, I’m doing more bikes, all the other lads seem to be running and posting on Instagram! They’ve got to teach me how to start posting a story!
“It’s not really a competition, we don’t put anything on each other, just supporting and pushing each other. There’s no ‘how fast did you go today?’ or ‘how long did it take you today?’, we just encourage. We are just trying to get it and do it and survive through the month really. You don’t want to blow up now in Day 8 or Day 9 and then struggle for another 20 days when there is still a long way to go.”
United’s ‘Super Six’ have already raised in the region of £400 for Prostate Cancer UK for signing up to the task ahead, and any United fans wishing to support them further, can do so by donating via their JustGiving page here.
Further information regarding the work of Prostate Cancer UK is available here.
Keep it going lads, we’re right behind you!
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