Two mates from military days, these two are trained professionals who have learnt to manage an endurance event.
Kevin clearly outlines how they plan to manage themselves, the various stages of the race and the emotional state as they close in on the finish line. For both, they campaign the boat to also raise awareness for various charities with this race focusing on Brain Tumour Alliance Australia and Pankind (Pancreatic Cancer Support).
It’s a very personal story for Darrell, supporting Pankind.
10th March 2023 – I got a call from my younger sister – she told me she had just been diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer that had spread to her liver. I was in shock but managed to ask a few questions – substantial, not able to operate due to the positioning around the organs, and will need immediate treatment.
This knocked the wind out of my sails for sure !! She went through Chemo and immunotherapy, but the cancer was too aggressive, and Rach lost her fight 5 months later, passing away on August 23.
Doing research into this insidious disease, there are little to no symptoms with pancreatic cancer until it spreads to other organs. The research for finding a cure and ways to detect the disease earlier is what’s needed to give people a fighting chance. So with that in mind, I have previously done a fundraiser called Remember September and now I am directly fundraising for PanKind –
For more info on PanKaind, https://pankind.org.au/ or to donate to my fundraiser – https://fundraise.pankind.org.au/fundraisers/darrellgreig/in-memory-of-rachel-greig-yule
Also, whilst doing the Melbourne to Osaka Cup, I will be spreading some of Rachel’s ashes during the race – when parallel to the Central Coast in NSW where she lived and loved to walk along the beach and look out to the ocean, and again as we cross the Equatorial current – so she can travel the world as she loved to travel.