Gruelling challenge to raise funds for Cancer Relief

Floyd Swift is undertaking five gruelling challenges in a period of seven weeks to raise funds for Cancer Relief Gibraltar in honour of his mother Rose Brashier (Porro).

“I just thought ‘what can I do to make it different? What can I do to make it hard? What can I do to put myself out of my comfort zone? And I just saw these opportunities’,” he told the Chronicle.

This Sunday, March 12, he will start the series of challenges with the iconic Top of the Rock run, a race that forms part of the GAAA racing season.

The next four challenges for Mr Swift, who turns 30 at the end of March, will be the Med Steps Five Challenge on April 1– where runners undertake the Mediterranean Steps five times, back to back; the next day he will complete the 15km trail race across the hilly Sierra Carbonera at the back of La Linea.

On April 16, the second anniversary of his mum’s passing, he will run the Gibraltar half marathon.

Later that month, his final challenge will be the Rock Triathlon Challenge, where he will cycle around the Rock, run around the Rock, go up the Med Steps and swim in the sea at Eastern Beach.

Mr Swift has been a runner since he was 18 and started to fundraise for cancer charities when his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011.

He is not predominantly a road or trail runner and, in fact, “I actually don’t like long distance running,” he said.

“But I enjoy setting a challenge for a good cause.”

This year’s challenge builds from last year’s where he did just one event, a mini triathlon and raised £1000 with the help of his friends and family.

“I’ve decided to do this every year since my mum was diagnosed in 2011,” he said.

“However, I am now doing fundraising every April as it will mark the second anniversary since she passed away in 2021.”

Sadly, shortly after she passed, so did Mr Swift’s stepfather, Graham, when he lost his battle with a rare terminal brain cancer.

It was easy for Mr Swift to pick Cancer Relief Gibraltar as the charity to raise funds for.

“It might sound silly but during the last few weeks of my mum’s life, myself and other family members spent a lot of time caring for her.”

“It was during this time that we needed the most support.”

“So I kind of turned my back on finding a cure and tried to make the remaining time I had with my mum as comfortable as possible.”

“I know from the work of Cancer Relief that they provide so much support to people living with cancer and even family members who are affected.”

“I just want to help as best as I can so that other people don’t have to go through what I did,” he added.

He has been training on and off since becoming a father of one and he likes to stay active by playing different sports like football, futsal, tag rugby, badminton, paddle tennis, swimming and athletics, as well as going to the gym.

“Luckily, I work at Peak Gym as a fitness trainer alongside my other job in the GHA so I’m able to use the gym facilities and keep on my toes by training other people,” he said.

“Before then, I was a police officer for the RGP so you can only imagine the physical demands required to do that job.”

Mr Swift is also in the process of arranging a raffle and is getting licensing and donations from local business. He is open to further donations for this raffle.

In addition, he is planning on a 24-hour spin and is seeking people to take on slots of 30min-1 hour throughout the 24-hour period.

He is contactable via his Facebook page: PT Swift or Instagram: pt_swift

He also welcomes people to join him on any of the events he is completing.

To donate go to https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/floyd-swift6