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Heroes in Purple Speedos Raise R1 200 000: Hollard Daredevil Run Hands Over Funds Raised and Launches 2026 Campaign

Hollard has donated R1 200 000 to the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA) and the Prostate Cancer Foundation, with every rand raised by the purple speedo-clad heroes who took part in the 2025 Daredevil Run. At the same event, the 2026 campaign was officially launched and South African men will be called upon to lace up, strip down and do it all again!

Seventeen years in and the Hollard Daredevil Run shows no signs of putting its trousers back on. Under this year’s tagline “Lekker Balls; Lekker Life”, the 2026 cheque handover and campaign launch took place today at Hollard Campus in Parktown, Johannesburg.

The R1.2 million raised in the 2025 Hollard Daredevil Run was formally handed over to CANSA and the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) to fund awareness campaigns, Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) screening and patient support. “The Hollard Daredevil Run is an unforgettable experience that raises awareness in a fun, engaging manner and sparks dialogue about men’s health in a non-threatening way,” says Hazel Chimhandamba, Group Chief Marketing Officer at Hollard.

“In 2024, we raised R1 million, 100% of which went directly to supporting prostate and testicular cancer awareness programmes. We are incredibly grateful to every Daredevil who dared to run in a purple speedo. It takes a special kind of bravery to turn heads for something that truly matters. Because behind all the laughs is a very serious mission: getting more men to check in on their health and each other,” adds Hazel.

The stakes are real. Prostate cancer remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths in South African men. One in eight men is expected to be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, with Black African men facing a 60% higher risk than other population groups. South Africa’s mortality rate due to prostate cancer is particularly high, largely due to underscreening, sociocultural stigmas and lack of health education.

Testicular cancer, while less widespread, is most common in young men aged 15-49, affecting approximately 1 in every 250 males. When caught early, it is highly treatable. A two-minute self-examination can detect lumps, swelling, or changes early, that’s considerably less time than it takes to run 5km in a purple speedo and the payoff is just as big.

A simple Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) blood test for men over 40 can detect elevated protein levels before a single symptom appears. “The Hollard Daredevil donation is the largest single donation the PCF receives each year,” says Andrew Oberholzer, CEO of the Prostate Cancer Foundation of South Africa. “The funds help PCF distribute accurate, multilingual educational material and keep free PSA screening programmes running nationwide.”

He goes on to say that the run has also contributed to the development of South Africa’s first comprehensive prostate cancer registry, launching in 2026, which will track incidence, treatment and outcomes. The campaign further funds PCF’s helpline and support networks for men and families navigating a diagnosis.

Lorraine Govender, National Manager: Health Programmes of CANSA states, “The Hollard Daredevil Run has become far more than a fundraising event – it’s helped build a national movement that encourages men to speak openly about their health and seek help sooner. We are incredibly grateful to Hollard and every participant whose courage and commitment enable CANSA to continue providing awareness, early detection, screening and support services to men across South Africa.”

The event returns to Zoo Lake in Johannesburg on Friday, 23 October at 3pm with participants elsewhere able to register and run in their own neighbourhoods, workplaces, schools or universities anywhere in the country.

Registrations for the 2026 Hollard Daredevil Run open from 1 July and tickets will be available from Ticketpro at R200, which includes the courier of a registration pack and a complimentary purple speedo.

For more information, go to www.hollard.co.za/daredevilrun.

Images:

Images: L to R: Adel Kriel, Hollard; Thulani Sibisi, Prostate cancer survivor and past winner of the Two Oceans Marathon; Jorika Spies – PCF; Lucy Balona – CANSA. Photo: Supplied by Client

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Top Star Drive-In: Destroyed by What Created it

However, the very thing that created the Top Star eventually destroyed it. Because the early miners had used crude methods, the Ferreira Dump—and dozens of others like it—still contained significant traces of gold. As the price of gold rose and new chemical extraction technologies (like the carbon-in-pulp process) made it profitable to “mine the waste,” the ground beneath the Top Star became more valuable than the cinema itself. In 2006, despite fierce opposition from heritage groups who argued that the dump and the drive-in were culturally significant landmarks, the projectors were turned off for the last time.

The reclamation of the dump was a staggering industrial feat. Starting in 2008, mining giant DRDGold used high-pressure water cannons to “monitor” the dump, turning 5 million tons of solid earth back into a liquid slurry. This slurry was then piped 40 kilometers across the province to a processing plant in Brakpan. By 2011, the “mountain” had completely vanished. The 50-meter-high plateau that had dominated the southern skyline for a century was reduced to a flat, dusty crater.

The disappearance of the Top Star is a poignant symbol of Johannesburg’s “extractive” nature. It is a city that consumes itself to stay alive; even its historical landmarks are subject to the fluctuating price of minerals on the London and New York stock exchanges. Today, if you drive along the M2, there is an empty space in the sky where the Top Star used to be. While the reclamation removed a source of toxic dust and “acid mine drainage,” it also erased a piece of the city’s collective memory. The land where the gold-flecked mountain once stood is now being rehabilitated for light industrial use, proving that in eGoli, even the horizon is for sale if there’s enough gold hidden inside it.