The Cockies and Tradies Melanoma Awareness Charity Golf Tournament will be played for the second time at the Alexandra Golf Club on October 20.
Organiser Chris Flannery said while the event was not just limited to farmers and trade workers, he had chosen to appeal to them because they were two groups often exposed to the sun who might not have been aware of the dangers.
Mr Flannery was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic melanoma in late 2019 and is still receiving treatment for the cancer.
"[I] worked a few years farming and then went into the trade and they’re both very similar ... [they] both have jobs outside that need done," Mr Flannery said.
Taking a break to apply sunscreen was not always possible.
"You just spend another hour finishing off a job and then come in and you’re burnt from top to bottom.
"If you’ve got a job to do, sometimes you let [sun exposure] slide when you probably shouldn’t."
According to a 2022 Jama Dermatology study, New Zealand has the highest death rate from melanoma in the world and, along with Australia, the highest global incident rate.
One in 20 men and one in 30 women in New Zealand will be affected by melanoma by the age of 75.
Mr Flannery organised the tournament for the first time in 2021, and raised $80,000 to support Melanoma New Zealand.
Initially, his goal was to raise awareness of skin cancer.
"It was more about making sure there was some awareness and the fundraising’s sort of come as a by-product of that," he said.
After the first golf tournament, several people contacted Mr Flannery to say, as a result, they had been tested and had found melanoma.
"Six or seven people reached [out] to say that they’d been in and had some extra testing done ... since that tournament."
"That was probably the best feeling ... hopefully they’ve got it early enough ... because early detection’s the key."
In the future, Mr Flannery hoped to see a continuation of the tournament as an annual event, held in a different area of the region each year.
He hoped by changing the location of the tournament, education on melanoma could reach more people and provide greater fundraising opportunities for Melanoma New Zealand.
By Ruby Shaw
