2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Man dressed as giant testicles to run 500km all over the UK
Toby Freeman is running a series of marathons across the UK dressed as a giant pair of testicles to raise awareness of testicular cancer following the tragic death if his brother
A man is donning a massive pair of testicles to run marathons across the UK, in order to raise awareness for testicular cancer.
Toby Freeman set up the Robin Cancer Trust in memory of his brother, Robin, who tragically passed away after being diagnosed with the disease at just 24 in December 2011. Now, Toby is committed to educating others about the condition and supporting those affected by it.
In an exclusive interview with The Mirror, the 35-year-old from Colchester said: "Going back to 2011, my brother was diagnosed with a really rare form of testicular cancer. 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. 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 is passionately taking on a series of running challenges, with an intent not just to fundraise for the trust but also to spark vital discussions about cancer screening among youngsters. His distinctive attire while running has also unsurprisingly been a conversation starter.
Toby 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?
"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?
"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."
Regarding public reaction, Toby explained that the response has been overwhelmingly positive. 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."
Toby's 'My Big Ballsy Challenge' has seen him complete marathons in London and Brighton, with his sights now set on conquering Hadrian's Wall between June 12 and June 15. His efforts have so far raised £15,845 towards a £240,000 target for his charity, sparking numerous discussions about testicular cancer along the way.
Yet, this isn't Toby's first quirky campaign. In 2019, he launched prosthetic testicles into the stratosphere during Testicular Cancer Awareness Month, and in 2021, he orchestrated a Zoom call with 250 men checking their testicles in a bid to set a world record. The following year saw him showcase the UK's largest pair of testicles on Manchester's I Love MCR billboard.
Reflecting on his previous campaigns, Toby added: "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.
