Sir Chris Hoy has urged men to take a 30-second online prostate cancer risk test and speak to their GP if they have concerns or a high score. The six-time Olympic gold medallist, diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer, has become a prominent advocate for screening but stressed that encouraging men to get tested shouldn't fall solely on high-profile individuals.
Hoy calls for systematic approach
Speaking to the BBC, while he said he felt privileged to have the public platform to spread awareness and raise money, he explained: "It shouldn't just be down to high-profile individuals like Jeremy Clarkson or myself or any number of men who've been in a similar situation. There should be a more systematic and proactive approach to let men know about their own risk."
In the same BBC update this week, Hoy urged men to take the 30-second risk test and to book a GP appointment if they have any concerns or if their score indicates a higher risk. The test, created by Prostate Cancer UK, is a short four-question assessment designed to help men understand their risk level and what steps they may want to take next.
How to take the risk checker
Hoy suggested: "It's very easy. You go on Google and search Prostate Cancer UK risk checker", answer the questions and then take the results to your doctor, showing that you have a high risk and ask for a blood test.
The Scottish sporting legend, after whom Glasgow's Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome is named, said 10,000 men a year in the UK find out too late that they have prostate cancer. Hoy was one of them, having initially put one of the warning signs down to old age.
Hoy's own experience
In a BBC documentary Sir Chris Hoy: Cancer, Courage and Me, the cycling icon recalled: "It was the summer of 2023, I had a pain in my shoulder and just assumed it was a sign of getting older. Aches and pains, as you expect."
Hoy learned he had advanced prostate cancer in September 2023. He later went public with the diagnosis and, by October 2024, revealed the cancer had spread to his bones and was no longer treatable. His experience is a stark reminder that symptoms can be easy to miss.
Signs and symptoms
According to Cancer Research UK: "Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate gland, a gland at the base of the bladder. It is the most common cancer in men in the UK. Most prostate cancers start in the outer gland cells of the prostate. They are called acinar adenocarcinomas. Many of these cancers grow extremely slowly and are not likely to spread. But some can grow more quickly."
The NHS says prostate cancer often has no symptoms at first, but as it grows or spreads it can affect the urethra (the tube that carries urine from the bladder to the penis), causing changes in how you pee. This could mean you experience:
- feeling like you still need to pee when you've just finished
- "stop start" peeing
- peeing during the night
- having a weak flow of urine
- finding it difficult to start peeing or straining to pee
- needing to pee urgently or often, or both
Other symptoms can include blood in your urine or blood in your semen, erectile dysfunction (being unable to get or keep an erection), and lower back pain and losing weight without trying to (these may be symptoms of advanced prostate cancer).
Tour de 4 charity cycle
As part of his awareness-raising efforts, Hoy is set to lead a "Tour de 4" charity cycle on September 6. The ride will start and finish at Glasgow's Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome and has already raised more than £3 million for UK cancer charities.
