A PAIR of Fermanagh brothers were part of a fitness fundraising effort for Friends of the Cancer Centre recently, with a competitive streak urging on all involved to do their best for the good cause.

Rory and Sean Porteous from Maguiresbridge were part of the ‘Altnagelvin Avengers’ team who took on the Battle Cancer fundraiser on August 28, joining more than 100 other teams taking part.

Rory told this newpaper: “Myself and my colleague, Sarah Kelly, are both Therapy Radiographers at the North West Cancer Centre at Altnagelvin.

“In our job, we see both the devastating impact of cancer and the relentless good work being done to combat it every day.

“We wanted to use our enthusiasm for fitness to raise some much-needed money for one of the many cancer charities who have been hit hard by the events of the past 18 months.”

Speaking of the decision to fundraise for Friends of the Cancer Centre, Rory said: “They provide help and support to our patients as they go through their cancer journeys, and they also fund specialist roles for staff across cancer services in Northern Ireland and research projects that otherwise may not be possible.”

Battle Cancer is a fundraising event series based in the world of CrossFit. As well as running such fitness fundraisers, it also provides support through health and fitness to those who are post-cancer through the Battle Cancer programme.

The Battle Cancer event comprises four CrossFit workouts, specially programmed to be accessible to all fitness levels and abilities. These workouts include exercising with kettlebells, dumbbells, d-Balls and ski ergs, as well as synchronised devil presses, thrusters and squats

Speaking on the lead-up to the event, and on building a team, Rory said: “In order to participate, we needed a team of four, so originally we decided to enlist the help of my younger brother, Sean, and Sarah’s younger brother, Ben.

“However, around six weeks before the event, Sarah announced that she was expecting twins, therefore she had to switch to the role of coach and we got Marty McGonigle – a friend and gym buddy of the two Kellys – to take her place.”

Starting positions in the fundraiser had a twist. Rory said. “In the build-up, each team could take part in a special AMRAP, [which means] usually ‘as many rounds or reps as possible’.

“This time it was scored by ‘as much raised as possible’, and our total of £1,491 at the time we checked in on Saturday morning, started us off in third place among the all-male teams.

“Unfortunately, we slowly edged down the leader board as the day’s events unfolded; however we do plan to return next year and improve in 2022 on our 17th-place finish.”

Battle Cancer Belfast was hosted at BLK BOX headquarters in Belfast and had 140 teams participating from all across the island of Ireland.

Rory added: “There were 35 different cancer charities being supported by the various teams, and the total raised was £78,016.49.

“However late donations are still welcome at our JustGiving page, which will remain open until the end of September.”

To donate to the fundraising effort, see https://tinyurl.com/z2nwyjw3.