Captain of golf club in Inverness urges men to check themselves for signs of prostate cancer as major charity golf event to promote cause takes place in June
AFTER being diagnosed with prostate cancer, Andrew Stokes is encouraging men to get themselves checked to ensure it can be caught early enough to save their lives.
Four years of promoting the cause after one of his friends was diagnosed and sadly lost his battle, he himself was diagnosed with the condition earlier this year.
Now the captain of Kings Golf Club wants to use an annual major charity golf event at the Inverness course next month to help get the message out for men to get themselves checked early.
Retired IT Sector worker Stokes (60) is one of the men behind The Big Golf Race which has been running for the past four years and involves 72 holes of golf in the space of 24 hours to raise money for Prostate Cancer UK.
Stokes was one of nine men who took part in the original event after their friend William Andrew was diagnosed with prostate cancer and sadly passed away the day after in 2022.
Stokes said he showed no symptoms of having prostate cancer before being diagnosed. He wants to put the message out to men to get themselves checked regularly which could save their lives.
He said: “At the end of January, I went to the Doctor regarding another issue, but was related.
“They suggested they checked my prostate while I was there and that is how it was discovered.
“I was officially diagnosed in February, but it has been caught early and I am hopeful of a positive outcome.
“I have been told the treatment plan which they are hopeful of a cure. Because it has been caught early, I am on hormone therapy just now and will receive radiotherapy in November which is hoped will put an end to it.
“My prognosis is positive and while The Big Golf Race is a big thing to raise money for, the bigger thing for me is to encourage men to go and get checked.
“I had been raising money to spread awareness for prostate cancer for four years and had no symptoms until this year.
“But unbeknown to me I had it, so I would encourage people to find out more.”
Kings Golf Club, which opened in 2019, will be holding the Big Golf Race for the fourth time when it takes place on Wednesday, June 18.
The first event at the club only had nine players, in three weeks’ time, a total of 72 players will be taking part at the 24-hour challenge at Torvean.
Last year, 37 golfers took part in the 2024 event and raised £20,000.
Stokes says it will be an early start for what he says will be The Biggest Golf Race ever as they look to continue raising money for charity.
He said: “This year for the first time we will have 72 players teeing up at 4am on June 18 for a shotgun start.
“We will keep going round until every player has finished 72 holes. We don’t believe this has been done at any course in the UK before.
“This year, Prostate Cancer UK is urging more golfers to take part in The Big Golf Race to help fund life-saving projects like TRANSFORM, the most ambitious prostate cancer screening trial in over 20 years.
“The 72 golfers at Kings Golf Club are raising money to help fund research to find better tests to save men’s lives by taking on the Marathon, which consists of four rounds and 26 miles of walking in a day.
“After our first event we were all devastated when William passed away the day after we finished the challenge. This has now driven us to continue growing the event each year.
“Last year we had 37 players, we raised £20,000. Our target this year is to try and raise £40,000 for our event.”
Read: Nairn Golf Club member becomes North District champion.
Anyone wish to support the event can donate at https://biggolfrace.prostatecanceruk.org/teams/kings-golf-club-2025-big-golf-race and find out more information.
