Some people grow moustaches and raise money for Movember but one UOIT athlete is stepping up the game.
Brad Semenick, a varsity rower on the UOIT Ridgebacks team, will row a “marathon” tomorrow afternoon, Thursday Nov. 22.
The rower is a part of the UOIT athletes’ Movember team. While the main focus of the month-long initiative is testicular and prostate cancers, members of the team chose different topics affecting men’s health.
“I’m targeting mine towards [men’s] mental health because I feel like that’s not a subject that’s being talked about enough in men, in my opinion. There’s alarming statistics,” he says.
According to The Government of Canada, males count for 75 per cent of suicides.
Semenick will use an indoor rowing machine, inside of the Campus Recreation & Wellness Centre.
He will row 42.195 kilometres, which is a little more demanding than what he’s used to compared to racing distances.
“There are two standard races, one is two kilometres and [the other] is 5 kilometres, so 42 is going to be nuts,” Semenick says.
Members of the campus community are welcome to stop by the atrium to support him as he completes the marathon. Donations will also be be accepted as he rows. His goal is to raise $1,000.
