Drysdale freezes for MND

THE Drysdale Football Netball Club’s first “big freeze” event has been a massive success, raising more than $51,000 towards fighting to find a cure for motor neurone disease (MND).

On Saturday afternoon, 13 brave celebrity and local personalities hit the ice as part of a huge day that attracted massive crowds to Mortimer Oval.

Sliders included FightMND founder Neale Daniher’s nephew and event organiser James Bruest, Leisure Networks’ Luke Maher, Daryl Reader from Bay 93.9 and many more.

Some fantastic costumes were on show during the festivities including Warwick Capper, Dorothy the Dinosaur, Joe Exotic and the Bananas in Pyjamas.

The event was MCd by Bay 93.9’s Roxie Bennett, with the presenter entertaining the crowd with plenty of laughs as the sliders shivered their way out of the ice pool.

Mr Bruest was thrilled with the success of his club’s inaugural big freeze event.

“It was such a great festival type of atmosphere on Saturday with close to a thousand people rocking in to see us brave the ice,” he said.

“There was kids running around everywhere, families cheering and plenty of laughs and fun.

“We were rapt with everyone’s buy-in on the day, especially the umpires and Portarlington who wore their MND socks to raise awareness of the cause.”

Drysdale FNC event organiser Graeme Reid echoed Bruest’s sentiment, noting the event was strongly received by the community.

“The event by far exceeded our expectations and was a fantastic show of community spirit,” he said.

“To set out to raise $10,000 and come through at $51,500 is an amazing feat that we are very proud of.

“We were overwhelmed by the response and funds raised by our sliders as well as the generosity of the community who bought beanies and cheered on our brave people as they went into the ice.”

Drysdale FNC were honoured by all the generous donations, especially the impressive $15,000 raised single-handedly by Cats waterboy Sam Moorcroft, who dressed as Geelong skipper Joel Selwood.

The club hopes that its 2023 event is bigger and better and are excited to keep MND research in the limelight.