A trio of Ballarat blokes have raised $11,000 for the Movember Foundation while completing some ridiculous challenges.
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Brad Quiddington, Brad Briggs, and Brad Weightman put their bodies and reputations on the line fundraising for the men’s health foundation raising 15th highest amount by a group or individual in the country.
The Brads all attend the same gym in Delacombe where the idea to spice up their fundraising was born.
“We started growing our mustaches and getting donations through Facebook and reached $200 in the first two days,” Mr Quiddington said.
“But we got stuck at about $1,200 and couldn't get any more donations so we came up with idea that we would throw up a dare with a price.”
It didn’t take long before The Brads were taking on extreme dares to get to their fundraising goals.
As well as growing their mos, The Brads shaved their heads, had Brazilian waxes, had over-the-top spray tans, had their noses and belly-buttons pierced, completed a lap of Sturt Street wearing g-strings on a motorbike and completed their usual gym work-outs in high-heels and full make-up, just to name a dew.
However, the theme behind the dares wasn’t random, The Brads wanted to engage in activities men normally wouldn’t to symbolise the barriers men face.
“The main thing was to do dares to break down the male stigma of being too tough to express emotions and deal with health issues,” Mr Briggs said.
The dares brought The Brads closer together while encouraging other men to take care of their mental and physical health.
“I've had a tough year with depression and anxiety and this helped,” Mr Briggs said.
“These two got me through it and this gave me the confidence to sort my issues out; it’s made it easier to talk.”
Mr Quiddington said the challenges they took on was their way of showing no one is above facing their fears and hopes their antics encourages other men to speak up about their health.
“We wanted to bring fun to something so serious and we got quite touching messages from friends and guys we didn't know saying what had we done made it easier for them to get help,” he said.
Nobody is going to look down on you or think less of you for seeking help and addressing these issues.
- Brad Quiddington
The Brads’ craziest challenge is yet to come with a commitment to get each other’s faces tattooed on their backsides if they reached $3,000 in donations.
“We didn't think we would get $3,000 but that's definitely happening, we just have to find a tattooist to do it,” Mr Quiddington said.
The Brads are looking forward to a new dares and increasing their fundraising next Movember.
“It’s been quite moving to get all the support and we’ll have to up the ante next year,” Mr Quiddington said.