Members of West Norfolk Rugby Club are putting fitness and moustache growing to the test – to break the stigma of men’s mental health.
Players from the Men’s Senior lst XV are taking part in the national Movember challenge to raise awareness of men’s health issues, including prostate cancer, testicular cancer and suicide.
But one player, Morgan Smith, is taking the challenge even further by running, walking or cycling 800km throughout November – completing a gruelling 26.6km a day.
Morgan, 22, is more than halfway through his challenge and he’s determine to see it to the end.
Other rugby players are getting involved too by joining Morgan on some of his daily runs.
Morgan said: “It’s a total of 800,000 metres, one metre for every man who has lost his life to suicide.”
Morgan started playing at the rugby club when he was just five years old and has continued with the club through various age groups.
“Men’s mental health means quite a lot to me, I have lost people close to me through mental health,” he said.
“I wanted to challenge myself to do this and to get out and get people out with me and have a chat while we are running.”
Morgan, of North Wootton, also spoke about his ambition to raise awareness of men’s health conditions too and to get men talking.
“For a man, talking about health and mental health can be quite difficult, these days it’s getting easier and I wanted to help that.”
Morgan has been completing runs, walks and bike rides around North Wootton and the coastline.
On the final day of his challenge, he will be completing a marathon to round off Movember in style.
So far, the club has raised a total of £2,508 through its fundraising page.
Morgan is due to complete the marathon on the evening of Thursday, November 30 finishing off at the rugby club in Gatehouse Lane, supported by his team-mates. Members of the public are invited to join in celebrations to mark the end of the fundraising efforts.
Donate to the team’s efforts at: https://movember.com/t/west-norfolk-rufc?mc=1
