Football forwards aren’t renowned for long distance events and are quite often suited to strength-related activities.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But this pack will be putting in the hard yards alongside a few of their brides as part of the 2015 Sydney Coastrek, an annual Fred Hollows Foundation fund-raiser.
Maitland Blacks quartet Danny Lewer, Peter Hodgson, Ben Emmett and Kris Doyle will be making the 55-kilometre walk from Palm Beach to Balmoral Beach on Friday with Lynsey Lewer, Kelly Baldwin, Fiona Emmett and Myf Doyle.
Former club president and 200-game prop Danny Lewer said the inspiration behind the adventure was simply keeping up with the women.
“A few of the girls have been doing half marathons and they have been calling themselves the Black Widows,” Lewer said.
“They have done Uluru and Melbourne and I thought we [the men] need to get on board this.
“But I’m a prop so I wasn’t going to run 20 kilometres, but I thought I could walk 55.”
A bit of pre-season training with Ironman veteran Peter Hodgson, including 30km walks around Maitland during the last few months, has the crew “ready to go”.
The eight participants will split into two teams with Hodgson, the Lewers and Baldwin up against the Emmetts and Doyles.
Both teams are aiming to finish in 12 hours and have already raised $2000 each.
To donate for the cause visit the Coastrek website and follow the links to the HLM teams.