Sir Chris Hoy sounded upbeat when he rang into Vernon Kay’s BBC Radio 2 show on Monday to wish Owain Wyn Evans well on the first day of a 400-mile fundraising ride across the four UK nations.

“I’m doing pretty well really, I was diagnosed with stage four so it’s incurable, it’s spread to my bones and I will live with it for the rest of my life,” the 50-year-old Scot told Kay.

Hoy, a six-time Olympic gold medallist and 11-time world champion, has become one of the country’s most prominent advocates for earlier prostate cancer detection since revealing in October 2024 that his diagnosis is terminal. He was first told he had cancer in 2023 and shared the news publicly in February 2024.

From shoulder pain to a stage-four diagnosis

The former sprinter said the warning sign that sent him to doctors was not prostate-related at all.

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“It was a huge shock, I thought prostate cancer was something for men over 50,” he said. “The first thing I noticed was my shoulder and that was a sign it had spread from my prostate.”

That pattern, where prostate cancer is only picked up once it has spread to bone, is the one Hoy has made it his mission to prevent. The UK has no routine screening programme, and he has used his platform to push men to assess their own risk.

A five-minute test he wants men to ask for

“The key thing for men is to understand your risk, just google ‘prostate cancer UK risk checker’,” Hoy said. “If you’re high risk, go to your GP and ask for a PSA, a blood test. It takes five minutes.”

The Prostate Cancer UK risk checker he referenced is a 30-second online tool that flags higher-risk groups, including Black men, men over 50 and those with a family history.

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Hoy told Kay he regularly hears from men whose cancer was caught in time because they insisted on being tested.

“The number of men who have come up to me and said ‘I had to push for this test’ but I got it, it turns out I’ve got prostate cancer but actually I’ve caught it early,” he said. “And if you do that it’s very treatable and curable.”

Backing Owain Wyn Evans on the road

The call was timed to a BBC Children in Need fundraiser. Owain Wyn Evans, who presents Radio 2’s Early Breakfast show, set off from Glasgow on Monday morning on the 4 Nations Cycle Challenge, a five-day ride that takes in Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales before finishing in central Cardiff on Friday, 13 November, the day of the televised Children in Need appeal.

“When I said yes to this challenge, I knew it would push me well outside my comfort zone,” Evans said when the ride was announced. “It’s going to be tough, demanding and probably a little daunting at times.”

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Opening day covered 135 kilometres from Glasgow down to the ferry port at Cairnryan, where the team crossed to Northern Ireland for stage two.

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