Seaun Lovell of Ashburton has set himself a 739km challenge this month.
The 52-year-old is riding, rowing or running a distance of 739km; it’s the number of blokes who die every year due to prostate cancer.
He has clocked up more than 662km and raised nearly $2800.
Lovell’s cause is part of the Blue September campaign, raising awareness and funds for the New Zealand Prostate Cancer Foundation
Mostly Lovell has been hitting the river trails on his mountain bike.
‘‘I’ve had a couple of close friends and work colleagues who have had scares or diagnosis with prostate cancer and I thought well I like biking so why not, it’s just something I can do to help raise money but more importantly awareness.
‘‘I thought it would be a real challenge to get on my bike every single day, no matter what the weather was doing, and it needed to be a challenge to justify asking for people’s hard-earned money in sponsorship,’’ he said.
Despite his best efforts, it has not been all plain sailing.
He has struck some very windy days, had a couple of flat tyres, and been forced to take his efforts indoors.
But with support from work colleagues at EuroAgri he is powering through.
‘‘My work have also been great in letting me go slightly early on days when it looks like the weather is going to turn bad,’’ he said.
‘‘I’m averaging 28km every day so far. I ride from Lake Hood to the Ashburton bridge then do a full loop of the Ashburton Mountain Bike Track … then back down the river track to Lake Hood.”
Lovell is no stranger to mountainbiking, he is an active member of the Phat Bastards push bike group.
‘‘I always ride on a Wednesday night which is our Phat Bastards club night ride, and maybe a couple of rides at the weekend,’’ he said.
‘‘We also get away a couple of times a year as a group to do the bigger well-known rides in New Zealand.
‘‘We do a bit for local charities and organisations as a group but this is something I wanted to for myself.’’
Í Support Seaun Lovell online via www.blueseptember.org.nz/fundraisers/seaunlovell/ ride-for-prostate-cancer
