Source: The Daredevil Run, which raises awareness of, and money to fight, male cancers, has its genesis in Nick Levesley’s (far left) fascination for balls.
Nick, who confesses to a lifelong love of balls of all sorts, says the story started back in 2009 when he missed out on a hacky sack giveaway on the 2oceansvibe website. (For those of you unfamiliar with a hacky sack, it’s a ball-like footbag that is kicked around by a group of players, who attempt to keep it in the air.)
Undaunted, he emailed 2oceansvibe’s Seth Rotherham, with an offer inspired by a dare that had been done by his friend Evan Alexander: “I would run down Johannesburg’s Jan Smuts Avenue in a Speedo, with ‘2oceansvibe’ on my chest – and he called my bluff!”
But then the reality of the situation began to sink in. He says: “I thought, ‘Now I’m going to have to do this on my own and look like a complete nutter.’”
So Nick started calling friends to see if they’d be prepared to run with him, and Rotherham put him in touch with the local hacky sack distributors so that his mates could also get one.
Among that group of friends was former Hollardite Justin Naylor, who at the time was working for Etana Insurance (which later became Hollard Broker Markets); Justin felt that the off-the-wall way that this was turning out fitted with Etana’s own way of looking at the world, and he wanted to take it to Etana’s then head of people and brand, Carel Nolte.
Then Nick had the idea of attaching a cause to the event, for that was what it was rapidly becoming, and he suggested testicular cancer.
"My dad had just been diagnosed with bone cancer, so cancer was on my mind,” Nick says.
Before they knew it word had spread far and wide, and 200 men had signed up for the inaugural Daredevil Run. And the gees they brought to it, endures to this day: a group of varsity students who participated in the first run still make it every year, for example, says Nick.
And so, egged on by the Lions cheerleaders (arranged by Carel), the first Daredevils set off from Florence House, the erstwhile Etana headquarters at Hollard’s Villa Arcadia head office campus. At their head was a golf cart steered by Carel, carrying a man dressed as a priest – who would hop off here and there to stop the traffic.
“It was completely illegal,” Nick laughs, saying that the metro police had refused permission for that first event. “We just ran out into the traffic … It was mayhem – people were hooting and filming. It was amazing.”
This year’s Daredevil Run will be the eighth in nine years (one year was skipped), with thousands of men participating – not only in Johannesburg but in Cape Town, Durban and Nelspruit.
And, as the only event of its kind, it goes a long way to making men aware of prostate and testicular cancer, it raises hundreds of thousands of rands in support of initiatives such as CANSA’s MANVan, a mobile testing clinic that promotes men’s health, and it alerts participants who undergo voluntary testing to potential risk to themselves.
In fact, Hollard’s chief marketing officer, Heidi Brauer, said at the 2017 Daredevil Run launch event recently that 100 at-risk men who had undergone a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) finger-prick test at last year’s event, had been referred for further testing.
“That’s 100 men – how many families – impacted positively,” said Heidi, stressing a central message of the Daredevil Run: early testing saves lives.
This was underlined by CANSA CEO Elize Joubert, who told the launch: “Traditionally, men are very reluctant to discuss health matters … That’s why we’re so grateful to Hollard [for sponsoring the Daredevil Run]. Early detection is key to effective treatment.”
And 2017 Daredevil Run ambassador Torsten Koehler, testicular cancer survivor and founder of Love Your Nuts, has dedicated his life to spreading the gospel of early detection. “By talking about balls, I’m saving lives,” he quipped at the launch.
The Daredevil Run is particularly special because it is a men-only event, says Nick: “It works better [as an awareness-raiser] because it’s just guys.”
Even though he’s the guy whose love of balls led to the Daredevil Run coming to life, he says it was – as it still is now – a group effort. The contributions of others such as Evan Alexander, for having done a Speedo dare, and Justin Naylor, for taking the idea to Etana, were as important to making it happen.
“People say I’m the original Daredevil, but credit must go to these guys,” says Nick.
So have you got the balls to take part in this year’s Daredevil Run? It takes place in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Nelspruit at 3 pm on 24 March – go to the Daredevil Run website for more information, and to register.
