It’s Sunday afternoon, and if Griffith looked they would have seen and possibly heard the rumble of … postie bikes?
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While there may have been noise absent from the vehicles themselves, there was nothing quiet about the message the Male Bag Foundation riders brought into town.
AFL legend and The Male Bag Foundation’s patron David Parkin OAM was one of the 17 motorcyclists who rode in to the Acacia Hotel, and with a few personal experiences was not backward in coming forward in telling Griffith men: get checked.
“It’s like this: men are pathetic,” Parkin said.
“Women get checks all the time, they take care of their health, but men don’t. It is so important – just like getting your car tuned up, we need to check out health to make sure everything is normal.”
With a grandfather and father diagnosed with prostate cancer, Parkin made sure he got regular check-ups, and when one brought back an abnormal reading, he knew what to do.
Over 3300 Australian men dying annually, with higher rates in rural and regional Australia. To help, the riders have traveled around the country on bikes that barely go 80km an hour.
“We travel in packs of five with walkie-talkies, so when another car is coming along we just pull over on to the side to let them past. We’ve never encountered road rage,” Parkin said.
Despite the challenges, the hard yards are made worthwhile with the team raising almost $1 million this trip alone.
Chairman Robert Glover said 100 per cent of the money goes towards buying biopsy machines to regional centres, with the aim of improving prostate services.
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This trip in NSW is aimed at helping out the farmers in drought, with the machine going to the area in most need.
“All of our riders cover the costs of the trip out of their own pocket, so all the money goes towards reducing the impact of prostate cancer on men, families and communities,” Mr Glover said.
Griffith’s Prostate Cancer Support Group is helping support the foundation’s efforts, and co-ordinator Barry Maples was thrilled to have the team in town raising awareness.
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