November is a month dedicated towards Mens Mental Health and the rugby union team at the University of Salford have gone above and beyond to raise money for the cause with a 24 hour bike ride.
The event, which took place on the University of Salford’s main campus, involved the society splitting off into four teams, each with a stationary bike, and for the entirety of the 24 hours the wheels could not stop spinning.
All day and night the team gathered in support from the side – cheering each other along the way and even dressing up to boost the morale.
The team lifted spirits and created an electric atmosphere by singing together as they neared the finish. It showcased the togetherness of young men, which is exactly what they are fundraising towards.
Zac Novak is Vice Captain for the Rugby union first team and spoke about how important it was for them as a society to raise money for Mens mental health.
“It’s important for a lot of young men our age because no one is really big about speaking out about mental health between each other.
“We are all here to support each other and we are trying to defeat the whole stigma of men shouldn’t be talking about their problems and bottling it up.”
As an all male society they pushed through what Zac described as a ‘gruelling task’ to help men like themselves come forward and speak about their issues.
The event raised money for the Movember Charity – a global charity which supports mens mental health and encourages men to open up about struggles.
Movember most famously raise awareness of mens mental health through their initiative to encourage men to grow out their moustache for the whole of November. This acts as a symbol for better mens health and the moustache showcases to other men that their mental health is being taken seriously and they support speaking out about mental health.
The movement started with 30 people participating and growing out their moustaches and now the charity have claimed they have a headcount of over six million men taking part.
The Rugby society kicked off their fundraising on November the 1st by participating in the Movember initiative and shaving their facial hair off to grow moustaches. Their fundraising continued with the 24 hour bike ride but it doesn’t stop there.
Across the rest of November the society has set themselves milestone activities which they will participate in once their fundraising goals are achieved. These include creating a committee calendar, dying their hair bleach blonde and if they reach over £2500 getting Movember tattoos.
These activities are all bieng done to help boost donations so they can give back to a charity that does so much for mens mental health all year round.
You can donate to their page and show your support using the link below: