Bikers ride to ‘create more prostate cancer survivors’

By Gianni Francis

Mar 16, 2022

Delivering for males: The postie bikers at Lake St Claire pump station in Tasmania in 2014.

Twenty-five blokes on postie bikes will visit Shepparton to raise awareness and funds to battle prostate cancer and support families affected by the disease in regional Australia.

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The postie pilgrimage, backed by AFL legend David Parkin, will raise funds towards supplying Goulburn Valley Health with specialist biopsy equipment and services.

The not-for-profit Male Bag Foundation riders start the first leg of their four-day postie pilgrimage in Melbourne on Saturday, March 19, stopping for the first night in Shepparton, where they will meet with GV Health representatives.

While in town, riders will meet with locals to discuss the insidious nature of prostate cancer.

In 2019, prostate cancer was the third most common cause of cancer death in Australia and the second most common cause of cancer death among men, with 3582 deaths from the disease recorded in Australia, according to Cancer Australia.

The riders will stay the night at the Victoria Lake Holiday Park before travelling to Swan Hill, Wedderburn, Maldon, Daylesford, Trentham and Lancefield before returning to Melbourne on Tuesday, March 22.

All of the riders, including support crews, pay their own expenses so that every cent donated to the Male Bag Foundation goes straight to paying for the biopsy machines for hospitals in Hobart and Shepparton.

The cheeky name of Male Bag was chosen to get people talking about men’s health in rural Australia.

The riders paid for the bikes just before 2013 out of their own pockets, sourcing them through Melbourne Rotary and forking out $1000 each, plus roadworthy certificates.

Most of them had never ridden a motorbike before, but that did not stop them riding from Perth to Melbourne on the postie bikes to raise money for the fight against prostate cancer.

In 2015, they formed the Male Bag Foundation, a charity where 100 per cent of the funds raised are used to help buy trans perineal biopsy machines.

The cost of the specialist biopsy equipment the Male Bag Foundation is looking to supply starts at $60,000 to $80,000, and the blokes on their bikes are hoping to raise at least $150,000 to be able to secure equipment for both hospitals.

You can donate to the Male Bag Foundation at www.themalebagfoundation.org.au/donate/