Balls to Cancer – Tackling Prostate One Mile at a Time

Date: Saturday 21st February 2026

Strava says: 71.13 miles

Elevation: 11,260 ft / 3,432 m

Weather: Wind, stronger wind and rain

Start: Abergavenny Train Station

Route type: Strava art!

Conditions: Well drained, boggy in places

Describe the route in three words: smile inducing shape

Balls to Cancer Tackling – Prostate One Mile at a Time – Race Report 

I met my friends Laurie and Emma at Abergavenny train station for a 5am start on Saturday 21st February to embark on my biggest Strava art challenge to date… a giant penis, to raise money & awareness for Prostate Cancer UK.

Why a big penis? Well it’s vaguely near to the prostate, and drawing a back passage and prostate gland would not be so ‘thrilling’ shall we say. Terry Rosoman first ran this route for the Movember Charity, one of the main beneficiaries of Movember is in fact Prostate Cancer UK. When I first asked Terry if I “could do his big cock and balls” I was greeted with silence, maybe something to do with my message slipping into requests and being unnoticed… however I hunted Terry down quick enough by asking mutual friends to give him a nudge. I wanted to make sure I had his blessing before doing the route and also wanted to check in to see if there was a specific charity he would like me to raise funds for. Blessing gained and the go ahead for any charity, I chose to run for Prostate Cancer UK as my father in law had been recently diagnosed (and since got the all clear) plus many of my running friends are male and 50 or over. There is no national screening for prostate cancer and 50 is the age where men should start getting tested. A word on testing, it’s a PSA blood test, not a finger up the bum (digital rectal examination) and then also you might have an MRI scan, read more about the test here. Check your risk in 30 seconds.

Matt Phillips was to be our photographer for the day and he was there to greet us at the start. We soon left town and skirted around Skirrid, we all commented how odd it was to not pass over the top and pat the trig. The weather was mild, surprisingly so as it had been snow and rain the day before. Exchanging stories and having a good giggle, we were 12 miles in before we knew it.

It was time for Emma to duck out, Hilary and Martin to join in. We headed up Hattarrell, the skylarks started to sing for us, they are my soundtrack of the Brecon Beacons and my heart swells with joy when I hear them. We were at the trig point in what felt like a matter of minutes when we had in fact been on the move for over 2 hours.

There were plenty of ponies, all of whom seemed to have had a blow dry, their super soft and fluffy winter coats blowing in the breeze. Matt greeted us and snapped some fantastic shots. Martin and Hilary stayed with us for two trigs plus a bit more, I made sure I tapped each one. Martin had bought water to replenish my flask, just as they turned to head back the way they had come was when the weather seemed to set in! Light rain, and strong winds.

At the trig after Hatterrell, Laurie and I posed for a photo, as I said, “hang on, I need to wipe my nose” Laurie said, “I’ve got sticky fingers” – this really gave me the giggles, such an honest and delightful sport, no lippie or pouts required for these photos!

Laurie and I had around 5 more miles on the Offas Dyke before reaching Hay Bluff, the wind really upped a level and conversation in parts was tricky as our words would be swept away. Every few minutes we’d both shriek as a big gust of wind would blow us to the side, at one point we were bumper cars crashing into each other, knocking our elbows together. The rain was not too bad, it was more moisture from the wind rather than actual rain. The visibility was great and we saw the beginnings of a rainbow. There were still remnants of snow from the day before but the rain had melted most of it away. The path was well drained and surprisingly not too muddy.

I felt so alive, so grateful for the ground conditions being runnable and the weather not being nearly as bad as expected, although I knew it was coming. I remembered to keep eating and drinking, working my way through a couple of SNACK’d bars, a tomato and mozzarella wrap and a chocolate bar. In what felt like minutes since waving goodbye to Hilary and Martin, the trig of Hay Bluff came into view. It is nearly always an island in a lake, I risked wet feet and leapt onto it for a picture. I thought out loud to Laurie “I wonder what mood I’ll be in the next time I am here?” (20 miles later I would be at this trig again). Right now my face hurt from smiling!

We started the descent off Hay Bluff and could see the car park where we would meet Rhian.

I shouted “hello” in the hope Rhian would hear us. We ran down to Rhian who was waiting for us, car warmed up and ready with blankets, food and drink. We did not need to climb into this luxurious checkpoint for a warm up though, we felt fine, warm and dry. Rhian had made some delicious flapjacks, I ate one and took one for later. These were the second attempt as the the first ones Rhian had made she mistook rice for desiccated coconut!

The three of us continued on to Hay on Wye. There was a really muddy downhill section in a horse field where Laurie and I got our poles out as it was so slippery, we stopped to make friends with the horses there. Laurie had been sporadically munching on an amazing looking homemade cookie bar, it was essentially cookie dough with all the left over Christmas chocolate mixed in, small pieces of chocolate elf to whole Quality Street. Laurie had very kindly bought an extra for me, I popped it in my bag, commenting on the weight of it and knew I would very much enjoy that later on!

We arrived ahead of schedule, meeting Fran at the Cosy Cafe where he had placed an order for a hot chocolate and cheesy toast. The sun was shining upon us. I said goodbye to Laurie, after her 23.5 mile leg. I was keen to get going so Rhian and I set off whilst I was still eating my cheesy toast. This was nearly the end of me though as I broke into a run too soon, still chewing on the toast, I promptly started choking and Rhian was concerned she’d need to jump in and throw some hard slaps on my back. Recovered from the cheese choking I then made a nav error in a sheep field as it looked very different since I had recced it just a few weeks prior, what had been an empty field was now full of electric fencing and turnip eating sheep. Despite the extra field distance we still made good time. Enjoying the sun on our faces, chatting all the time. Rhian popped into a garage to get some extra water for me as well as some custard tarts which went down very nicely. We reached the church 10 minutes ahead of my schedule which was pleasing.

As Rhian and I got to Felindre, we were met by Debbie and Michael, it was soon time to start climbing back up into the mountains. I commented on how fabulous the weather was and how I was sure we could get up onto the ridge line before the weather came in… oh why did I say that? Around a minute later Debbie and I were putting waterproof trousers on!

We hiked up the steep mile climb to Rhos Diron and ran across Lord Hereford’s Knob, the wind was really blowing now, it was quite biting. I recall eating Laurie’s homemade cookie bar along here, it was excellent!

We spotted a ninja hiker in the distance and realised it was Matt, dressed all in black. He threw an aubergine at me which I promptly missed, he had to throw it again for me to catch!

We power hiked up Hay Bluff. When I’d recced this section previously the Hay Bluff trig had come into view very quickly. That was not the case today. The bad weather was concealing the trig point from us and I caught myself thinking a few times, where is it? We finally reached the top and this was Rhian’s time to duck out, she just had to trot down the side of the mountain to her car, still in daylight too! I thought back to earlier when I was here with Laurie, how was my mood? I was somewhat colder and a bit damp but my spirits were not dampened, they were still high. I delved into my snack pack for the flapjack that I had acquired from Rhian and tucked into it knowing the sugar and oat hit would give me some warmth and extra energy.

The weather by now was quite disgusting. Debbie and Michael could have easily ducked out with Rhian but they bravely carried on with me. We had a sombre moment as we realised we were in this weather for another four hours or so. It’s really exposed up there, no shelter from anything. When we dropped back down into Gospel Pass, Michael stopped to put his waterproof trousers on and I had another snack. I hiked up towards Twmpa (Lord Hereford’s Knob) and said “hi” to Matt again, what a legend waiting for us in this horrid weather!  Whilst he had been waiting for us, a hiker had passed and they had got chatting. The hiker recently had a prostate cancer scare and was really pleased to hear about this Balls to Cancer Campaign to raise awareness.

The light was beginning to fade and before Waun Fach we all stopped to put emergency layers on, we were all borderline not quite warm enough. It was around here that a few negative thoughts had popped into my head, I knew it would get colder once the sun had gone down, the weather wasn’t letting up and we still had around 7 miles left up on this exposed ridge line. As I got my top and extra gloves out of my bag I also took out a painted stone which I had been carrying with me from the start. It was sent to me by the son of a father dying of prostate cancer. The son is caring for his father at home in his dying days. I had promised to dedicate some miles to him and this is how we were to do it. I would place the stone on Waun Fach, the highest point of the whole route, and in fact, the highest point of the whole area. With the stone in my hand, all negative thoughts floated away from me and it was a clear physical reminder of why I was doing this run.

As we reached Waun Fach, I placed the painted stone down. One side had the name of this father on palliative care, the other side:

At first our father, forever our friend”

It was an emotional and significant moment.

I was hoping that the weather would ease up a bit as we headed towards Gadair, it did not. We paused briefly whilst Debbie got my head torch out of my bag for me. I ran on. I’d forgotten how wet and boggy this section was but I must admit, I had a blast along there! It was a huge amount of fun. I switched on my head torch and after a while looked back expecting to see two more lights catching up to me, there was nothing, just darkness. I didn’t want to stop as I would get cold and I knew that Debbie and Micheal would catch me up soon. I got all the way to the turn off and jogged on the spot as they ran towards me. There had been a delay as Michael’s brand new (it had been tested) head torch failed! He’d had to put his emergency back-up head torch on, this does not offer much light onto the ground, but enough to be seen by others. I made a bit of a nav error here, turning off too soon and we had a bracken fest to tramp through before Debbie got us back on track. What a relief to get onto the lane, we all said how pleased we were to see road, which was very funny as we are all trail and fell runners through and through!

My running bestie Fran was waiting for me in the Llandbedr lay-by as was Matt and I climbed into Fran’s truck for a warm up and nourishment. I decided to change my entire outfit and donned Fran’s road shoes. Once I was all dressed and snug, Fran handed me a coffee and the most fantastic cheesy chips which in my haste to devour them managed to flick some of the cheese onto his window – opps! Matt very kindly dropped Michael and Debbie home.

With my fresh new outfit, road shoes and reflective gear, it was time to hit the road! Only around 20 miles to go and all on road. As I climbed out the truck I realised that my bowels were telling me something. I set off, Fran following in the truck with the hazard lights as I had a few miles upcoming with no pavement. I popped into The Bridge End Inn to use their facilities and realised there was no sneaking to the toilet unnoticed as I was the only person there! I announced to the two staff that I was around 50 miles into a 70 mile giant penis raising money for Prostate Cancer UK and that I really needed a poo… could I use their loo? They laughed and said “of course”.

I made friends with dog Teddy who was there. He really seemed to love me, giving me his paw, jumping up at me with wagging tail, nuzzling my leg, despite my clean outfit I guess I still smelt of sweat, bog and the mountains. The lady told me that he was not like this with anyone so I felt very privileged! After lots of cuddles I went on my way again.

Other than the numerous dead frogs on the road section, the time passed very quickly. Fran had pumped up the music in the truck, the funny thing was though, I could hear him but not the music! That mile and a half no pavement section flew by, I ran all of it, hills and all! I left a couple of voice notes too, one for my coach Andy and one for Amie from ‘Here for the Long Run’ podcast as she had asked me to if I had chance.

I could see head torches up ahead, it was my friend Jules and Eirug her husband. Eirug said he’d meet us at the Corn Exchange and top us up with anything we might need there. Fran’s duties over, he headed home. Jules and  I talked and laughed our way though those final miles. Eirug kept his word and was at the Corn Exchange. Water replenished, Jules and I got stuck into the out and back – the balls. Many more dead frogs and the odd live one too and we were on the back before we knew it. I realised I was having a dip in energy. A phone call later and Eirug swooped in with an emergency cheese and pickle sandwich and a coffee. Less than 5 miles to go and we realised we could get in before midnight. Jules kept me updated with time and distance checks so we could stay on track.

A Chinese lady tried to stop me with less than 3 miles to go, she was looking for a house to make a food delivery to. I told her as politely as I could, “I’m so sorry that I can’t help you but my friend will!” When Jules caught back up to me she explained that the Chinese lady could barely speak English so Jules had ended up on the phone to the hungry customers who in turn were trying to get Jules to deliver the food to their door! The cheek! Jules told them, “I’m in the middle of a race, if you want your dinner, come out to the main road and get it!” and then passed the phone back to the lady! We had a good giggle about this.

Through the park at Abergavenny, up the side of the castle and a short trot along the road before making the turn to the Abergavenny train station. We arrived, 6 minutes before midnight.

The most memorable and fun day out with many wonderful friends in the beautiful Welsh Mountains, raising money and awareness for Prostate Cancer UK.

Thank you to all who have helped with donations, support and logistics, a big shout out to Laurie and the fabulous Mynydd Du fell running club for being my wonderful on the day support. Laurie, Emma, Martin, Hilary, Rhian, Debbie, Micheal, Jules, Eirug and Francis.

What’s in the snack pack?

• Memory stone to place on Waun Fach
• 1 litre water with Protein Rebel Sustain
• Charged mobile phone
• Kyloe in the Wild sunglasses
• Spare gloves
• Salomon Bonatti waterproof over mittens
• Warm hat
• Long sleeved spare layer
• Montane Fireball Lite insulated jacket
• Harrier Helvellyn Carbon Z-Poles and quiver
• Fenix HM65R-T V2.0 head torch 
• Whistle
• Life Systems survival bag
• OMM Halo waterproof trousers
• Sugar coated stem ginger
• SNACK’d bars
• Hula Hoops
• Tomato and mozzarella wrap
• Quorn cocktail sausages
• Malt loaf
• Cadbury Crunchie
• Fig Roll biscuits x3
• Vegan gummy sweets
• Harvey’s Map Brecon Beacons East
• Silva Expedition 4 compass
• Voom bar
• Cliff Bloks
• Protein Rebel Maple Ignite gel
• Lip balm
• Toilet kit

What I wore: Saucony Peregrine 12 ST, Garmin Fenix 7 Pro Sapphire Solar, buff, Sweaty Betty power leggings, DexShell waterproof socks, TrailSkin Trench Foot Cream, Montane Dart long sleeved top, Montane Phase Nano Jacket, Sweaty Betty adjustable cap, bespoke chicken themed gaiters from Lesley at the Sewing Shed, Salomon Adv Skin 12 running vest. Prostate Cancer UK bracelet. Tracker from Richard at Track Trail.

Drop bag (in Fran’s truck)

I had two ‘checkpoints’ where Fran was meeting me so I packed enough kit for a complete outfit change at each one, plus extra kit to replace anything that may have gotten wet or used in my snack pack, the great thing about a self-organised event with ground crew is the luxury of being able to pack so many spare items! All of it was in my 100 litre Berghaus holdall bag.

• Prostate Cancer UK tee shirt (just in case it was warm!)
• TrailSkin anti-chafe salve
• 2x waterproof trousers
• 3x gloves
• 2x thin long sleeve
• 2x thick long sleeve
• 2x leggings
• 2x underwear
• 2x socks
• 2x waterproof socks
• Gaiters
• Buffs
• Trail shoes (Saucony Peregrine 15)
• Newspaper (to stuff into wet shoes)
• Plastic bags (for wet shoes and wet kit)
• Portable charger
• Garmin cable
• iPhone cable
• Sudocreme
• 2x Waterproof jackets
• Windproof jacket
• Cap
• Towel
• Talcum powder
• Head torch battery
• Checkpoint food – a bag for Hay on Wye and a bag for Llanbedr lay by
• Water
• Extra food: bananas, Hula Hoops, cheese and onion veggie rolls, Huel, SNACK’d

Lead up: December had been off season for me so from January I had been building up my running distance again. December had been brilliant because I’d done a lot less running but kept up the gym two to three times a week. I had enjoyed all that December had to offer in terms of social meals out, cosy nights in front of the fire and the TV snacking on yummy treats and enjoying many a G&T (maybe too many as I’d then decided for the first time ever that dry January was required!) I’d put on, let’s say, my ‘winter coat’ as Fran likes to call it. Coming back into training in January though was no hardship because I’d kept up the gym work, so I slipped seamlessly back into run training and shed my winter coat without any need for calorie control, a relief as I dread to think how dangerous going on a diet would be when one is an ultra runner! I’d done the Hibernal Hills 50km as a bit of a warm up two weeks prior and had been back and forth to Brecon Beacons a couple of times for recces and long runs.

Morning preparations: Getting ready in the morning I realised I had forgotten to pack my deodorant, I texted Emma and Laurie to see if either could bring some for me, luckily Laurie grabbed some on her way out the door to meet me. I know deodorant probably would seem a bit pointless a number of hours into the challenge but it’s nice to at least start clean and fresh! I had porridge for breakfast and annoyingly forgot to eat my chocolate twist I had bought as ‘second breakfast’ (after a quick zap in the microwave that went down very nicely the following morning!) Whilst waiting for Emma who picked me up at 4:30am, I left a voice note for Amie from the ‘Here for the Long Run Podcast’ as she had asked me to if I got chance.

Summary
Honestly, this was the most amazing and fun day out with friends, sharing stories of the trails, spreading awareness of prostate cancer and just having an absolute blast. My intention was to raise awareness, this fun shape certainly got people talking and asking “why?”, it brought down walls and made a difficult conversation easy to have.

I was so pleased with how I felt throughout and at the end, my run training with Andy and my gym training with Ed is certainly paying off, vastly improving my strength and stamina. Really looking forward to how I fare in my next race, Sherwood Pines backyard ultra.

Lessons learned

Planning a charity and awareness raising campaign is much more time consuming than I anticipated, I hope to write an article in future about how to plan an event like this but here are a few things I did and learned along the way:

• I kept in touch with the charity and they sent me information as and when I needed it.
• Social media is a must – on Instagram I pinned a post, shared stories daily and posted about my training on a regular basis. I resurrected my LinkedIn account and shared information on my Facebook page too.
• I spent an entire morning sending press releases out, I sent follow ups to those who did not respond – this was a great plan as I got some more ‘hits’ second time around.
• I contacted podcasts and asked them to interview me about the challenge.
• I shared the newspaper articles and podcasts on social media – this resulted in a national news agency and a radio station getting in touch.
• Having a WhatsApp group for crew and runners plus a tracker was key for the on the day logistics.

Results

Strava time: 18h 53m 52s

Strava link: click here

Fundraising: £2,407 raised for Prostate Cancer UK

Media

Professional photos by Matt Phillips Photography

• Hampshire Chronicle
• Basingstoke Gazette
• Abergavenny Chronicle
• Brecon Radnor Express
• Powys County Times
• Wales Online

Podcast

• Run Till You’re Done – Strava Art with Lizzie Gatherer
• Couch to Coached – Running a Giant Strava Penis for Prostate Cancer Awareness
• Aid Station – A Cock and Balls Story from Lizzie (with a very serious message!)
• Here for the Long Run – Lizzie Gatherer’s Epic Balls to Cancer Challenge for Prostate Cancer UK plus Achieving Backyard Ultra Royalty Status

Other Social Media

• Terry Rosoman
• Protein Rebel – Keeping it Real Episode 7

Radio – Drivetime slot on Awaaz FM

Professional photos by Matt Phillips Photography