An 89-year-old cancer survivor from Hillarys who has cycled regularly since he was 12 is confident he will able to ride 200km from Optus Stadium to Mandurah and back to raise funds for cancer research.
Roy Swift will be two months shy of turning 90 when he takes on the two-day Cancer 200 Ride for the Perkins in October, with proceeds going to research at the Harry Perkins Institute.
He recently overcame a 12-year battle with prostate cancer and said the charity ride was an opportunity to support others going through their own fight with cancer.
While back-to-back 100km bike rides seem like an impossible feat for someone of his age, Mr Swift said he had no problem with the distance as he rode 65km three times a week.
“I feel fairly confident quite honestly, because I’m doing plenty each week anyway,” he said.
Mr Swift’s passion for cycling started in 1946 when he joined a cycling club in Sheffield, England, when he was 12 before joining an Olympic cycling club five years later.
“As I got older I became almost a semi-professional bike rider and I’ve not been far away from a bike for the rest of my life since,” he said.
“I’m still riding three times a week and still doing around 65km each time.”
Mr Swift said in his younger riding days in England he would push up to 150 miles a day, which is about 240km.
Describing himself as “a bit of a fitness freak”, Mr Swift said he also took on weightlifting, gymnastics and swimming as a means to keep fit over different periods in his life, making for an active lifestyle which he still enjoys.
“Even now I go into the walk pool and I walk for half an hour and have a swim. Mixing it up a bit, that’s what you have to do at this age,” he said.
His daughter Cindy Farrar described her dad as “amazingly fit” and said their initial fundraising goal of $2500 was reached within a week, with the current total sitting at about $3000.
She said at 89 years old, her father’s competitive spirit had not wavered.
“Dad keeps saying ‘I wonder how I’m going to go in this race’ and I say to him ‘Dad, it’s not a race, it’s a ride’,” she said.
She said her father beat cancer thanks to radiotherapy and continued to be amazed by his fitness levels.
“I’m very proud of him; in fact there’s four siblings, me and three brothers, and we’re all incredibly proud of him and none of us are as fit as him,” she said.
“I do like to ride but nothing on what he does. All of us kids are doing our own things fitness-wise but nothing on what Dad does.”
Donations can be made to Roy’s Cancer 200 Ride for the Perkins here.