It takes balls, pun intended, to don a speedo, a purple one at that, and hit the streets for a five kilometre run.

But that’s not going to stop those fearless male members of society when they take part in the next edition of the Hollard DAREdevil Run in Johannesburg early next year.

The main aim of the event, taking place on February 19, is to raise awareness of male cancers with the premise being ‘to run cancer outta town’ and at the same time encourage conversation and discussion around a health issue that affects one in eight men.

“Although size doesn’t count…. We’re not aiming to be the biggest race in terms of participants but we do want to be the most meaningful,” Heidi Brauer, chief marketing officer for Hollard, said at the launch of the event on Thursday.

The race started nine years ago on the back of a simple dare and has now grown into an event that will, quite literally, stop traffic. At least if the sight of 5 000 brave males in budgie smugglers is your cup of tea that is.

“It just grew into what it is today. When things happen for a real reason they tend to be authentic and purposeful. Just having fun with something is important because then people will talk about it,” Brauer added.

“It’s a valuable platform for us to interact and encourage people to go and get tested,” Lucy Balon, head of marketing and communications at the Cancer Association of South Africa (Cansa) said.

“We’ve got an opportunity to raise awareness and it’s so important that we’re sharing valuable information that could, potentially, be saving someone’s life,” Balon added.

The race takes place at Zoo Lake and more information, as well as the entry procedure is available here