Prostate cancer survivor takes on gruelling 31 triathlons in 31 days for charity

A prostate cancer survivor from Rugby has begun a gruelling physical challenge for charity - doing 31 triathlons, in the 31 days of January.

Now one week in, each day Russell Cager completes a 1,500 metre swim, a 40k bike ride, and a 10k run.

“I’m feeling pretty good, surprisingly, given what I’m putting my body through - feeling really positive,” he said.

“The support so far has been fantastic as well.”

Russell lost his mother and his brother to cancer, so was well aware of the devastation the disease could wreak.

He had been completely symptom-free when he and seven friends decided to get prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests.

“Afterwards, we went for a curry - and as we sat there, we said ‘one in eight men will get prostate cancer, so the chances are that one of us will have it,” he said.

“It turns out it was me, which was quite a shock.”

He was diagnosed with stage three cancer in May last year, and after operations to have his prostate removed and recovery, he’s now in the clear - and decided he wanted to give something back.

With the support of friends, fellow members of the Rugby Triathlon Club, and the team at David Lloyd Rugby, he trained for 16 weeks to prepare for the start of the new year - and his epic month.

His personal trainer Keith Edwards has been alongside him every step of the way.

“When he first mentioned this, I just said to him - this is going to be a huge challenge,” he said.

“But his body’s holding up well, his spirit’s holding up well. Early morning he can be a bit grumpy, but barring that, he’s good.”

“It’s amazing - I would say it’s world-beating,” added Josie Goodwin, the Triathlon club chair.

“I don’t know anybody who’s done that. You get people who do one race of extreme distances - but waking up every morning and having to go again is tremendous. Absolutely brilliant.”

Between his online fundraising page and offline donations, Russell has already raised in the region of £5,000 for Prostate Cancer UK, but says his main ambition is to raise awareness, and encourage others to get tested.

“After I got diagnosed, I posted about it on Facebook - I just thought that sharing this story might help somebody,” he said.

“And what got me in the heart really was that three people responded and said ‘thanks for that, you made me conscious of it and we went and got a test’ - and those three people had prostate cancer.

“If it hadn’t been for me, they probably wouldn’t have gone. So that’s why we’re doing this.

“If this can help save even one life, that would be incredible.”