World champion paddle boarders, Bly Bayliss and Gavin Hill, paddled across the Gulf of St Vincent yesterday to raise bowel cancer awareness.

Throughout their 40-year friendship, Bly and Gavin have both had close personal experiences with bowel cancer, which was their motivation behind completing the epic paddle across the Gulf of St Vincent. Sadly, Gavin lost both his parents to bowel cancer and they have two close mates affected by the disease.

Yesterday, they completed the 70km paddle from the Port Vincent shore to Glenelg in an incredible eight hours. The journey doubled as training for July’s Molokai 2 Oahu Paddleboard Championship in Hawaii where they will defend their 2013 title.

During the last kilometre of the paddleboard, the guys were joined by Nippers from the Seacliff Surf Lifesaving Club who paddled into shore with them.

To celebrate, the guys hosted a successful fundraising party at the surf club, with an auction and AFL guest speakers, Scott Thompson and Brad Ebert.

Bly and Gavin raised an amazing $20,000 for bowel cancer prevention and received great media coverage in The Advertiser, on ABC Radio, Channel 7 News and in the Yorke Peninsula Country Times.

Given their personal connections to bowel cancer, they want to help others understand the risks of the disease and encourage regular screening for early detection. They will continue fundraise until they leave for Hawaii.

Thanks so much Bly and Gavin – we’ll be cheering for you in the World Championships!