A group of Howick golfers will be taking on the Longest Day Challenge next week, a golfing endurance event which tests skill and stamina over 72 holes in one day to raise funds for the Cancer Society.
The group is run by Howick’s Greg Holmes who was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2010 and has undergone around 14 operations and five bouts of chemotherapy.
Holmes has played golf for 20 years and after being advised he was palliative in 2021, wants to play as much golf as he can with the time he has left.
“It wasn’t the greatest news but you’re dealt these cards and you just have to make the most of it,” says Holmes.
Holmes is insistent on walking the 72 holes, which is between 20km-40km of walking and destined to take more than 12 hours.
Holmes’ team has raised the most amount of money across the country for the event, currently sitting at just under $12,000.
The team will take on the 72-hole challenge (four rounds of golf) at the Whitford Golf Club on Monday December 12, beginning at 6am.
Whitford Golf Club general manager Ricky Scammell says hosting the event is only a very small thing the club can do to raise money for such a worthy cause.
“We have had probably four or five members just recently who are going through cancer treatment and you get to know their stories. We want to help them out as much as we can,” says Scammell.
Around 25,000 New Zealanders are diagnosed with cancer each year and more than one million kilometres are driven to cancer treatments.
Every dollar raised through The Longest Day will go towards cancer care, education and awareness programmes and life-saving cancer research.
“We’re going to make everyone aware of it on the day and hopefully they can raise some really good money,” Scammell says.
You can donate to Holmes’ team at https://longestday.org.nz/t/greg-holmes-team
