'I'm running 500km dressed as giant testicles – I always get the same response'

Daily Mirror

2 days ago

Toby Freeman has embarked on a number of marathons to raise money for the Robin Cancer Trust - and his truly unique attire has caught the attention of members of the public along the way
A man dressed as a massive pair of testicles is running a number of marathons across the UK to raise awareness of the cancer. Toby Freeman founded the Robin Cancer Trust in tribute of his brother, Robin, who was tragically diagnosed with late-stage testicular cancer and passed away at the age of 24 in December 2011.
Now, the 35-year-old from Colchester is dedicated to raising awareness of the condition and helping those who find themselves diagnosed with it. Speaking exclusively to the Mirror about the foundation of the Robin Cancer Trust, Toby said: "Going back to 2011, my brother was diagnosed with a really rare form of testicular cancer.
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"And my brother was fit, healthy, active - didn't smoke, barely drank and yet he was diagnosed with late-stage testicular cancer. Long, long, long story short, we lost Rob 10 months later and we decided that if someone who was as health conscious and fit and active as Rob could be diagnosed, that it could happen to anyone.
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"So we really wanted to focus on awareness education and support so that no other family went through what we did basically, so that was the idea for the Robin Cancer Trust. Obviously with these things, you start with family and friends and it's about Rob's story, and people are involved because they love you and they want to support that.
"Then as it's grown over the years, more people have been touched by the mission, by the story, and it's become about everyone else. All the people that we've helped, the community that we've built, all the people out there that we've supported."
In 2025, Toby has made it his mission to take part in a series of running challenges, not only to raise money for the trust but to also hold serious conversations with youngsters on the importance of screening for cancer. And his unique costume in which he has been running has certainly helped him to spark up said talks.
He added: "I'm a runner, I'm not a runner on this level by any means, you know? I can run and I wanted to do some challenges this year, and then I said if I'm gonna do this I need to lead by example. I'm always talking about raising awareness, reducing embarrassment, saving lives, and I thought the best way to do that is all of our campaigns run through humour, right?
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"We think the best way to engage a young audience is to make them laugh. That lowers everyone's barriers and then we can have these really important health conversations. So I thought what would I think would be absolutely hilarious would be running around like a giant ball bag.
"Thankfully my team were on board with this and it's grown into this challenge - this 500 kilometre challenge. I'm trying to do events all over the UK, not just where I'm based. You know, I've done Brighton. I've done London. I'm doing the Hadrian's Wall challenge.
"I'm doing an ultramarathon after that in September. I'm trying to do races all across the UK because this is something we need to get out. Absolutely everywhere. But yeah, the idea just came about was how can we make this as big and bold and silly with a really important message behind it as well?
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"And that's been a really cool thing seeing people get that. There's the initial hilarity of, 'What is this person doing? Oh, I actually get why they're doing this.' That's really important, and I think there's a real need for guys especially to have these sorts of conversations."
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In terms of reception, Toby added that people have reacted to seeing the suit in overwhelmingly positive fashion. He said: "People love it. I was lucky enough to run Brighton and London, and not only the running community absolutely love it because I think they respect how hard it is running in the costume, but they get the message as well.
"But the crowds have been unbelievable. People just love it and it's exactly what you said, it's the shock value. It's going from, 'What am I witnessing right now?' to immediately understanding the why. Because you know, it's quite obvious that it's for testicular cancer as well.
"So yeah, you get the cheers on both sides of respect for you doing something silly and challenging, but also why you're doing it, and it's been received so amazingly. The races have all been really great. London and Brighton both supported it. Gave me a platform to talk about it."
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Dubbed 'My Big Ballsy Challenge', Toby has already completed marathons in London and Brighton, and his next challenge is running Hadrian's Wall - the 73-mile long structure that runs between Newcastle upon Tyne and Bowness-on-Solway - between June 12 and June 15.
Thanks to his endeavours thus far, Toby has managed to raise £15,845 of his £240,000 target for his charity, while also engaging in countless conversations with members of the public regarding testicular cancer. However, it's not the first campaign that Toby has launched which has been a little out there.
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In 2019, Toby sent a pair of prosthetic testicles into space via a hydrogen balloon in support of Testicular Cancer Awareness Month. In 2021, he invited 250 men to check their testicles simultaneously via a Zoom call in an attempt to break a world record, and the following year, he helped display the UK's largest pair of testicles on I Love MCR's flagship Manchester billboard.
Speaking about his past endeavours, Toby said: "Oh, yeah, we've done a fair few things. First one that comes to mind is we sent a pair of balls into space. We called it space balls, the campaign. That was to launch Testicular Cancer Awareness Month. That must have been pre-pandemic.
"Seems like a long time ago. But yeah, we worked with the company to send a pair of balls into space. There's beautiful shots of like, the world curvature below with a pair of balls dangling above it. So that was really good fun.
"We worked with I Love MCR in Manchester to create the world's biggest pair of balls on a digital billboard, so that was really good fun as well. Again, that was Testicular Cancer Awareness Month and then during the pandemic we brought… it was 250 guys from 25 different countries on five continents on Zoom to all check their balls at the same time.
"So it was an unofficial world record because we couldn't get an official world record for it. But I hold on to that. I say no one else has brought that many people together to check their balls at one time. So that was yeah… we've done lots of things to be honest."
Toby Freeman will run Hadrian's Wall between June 12 and June 15 as part of his Big Ballsy Challenge. You can find out more about his cause and donate on his Give As You Live page here. You can also find out more about the work of the Robin Cancer Trust here.