Emma Pritchard After spending 12 hours on the courts at the Junction Hill Tennis Club on April 5, alternating between playing games of tennis and pickleball, Darren Crispin said he would have felt proud to raise $2000 for Australian charity Love Your Sister. But the local sports coach couldn’t hold back the tears of joy and heartfelt appreciation which overcame him after it was revealed his incredible efforts had helped to raise close to $20000. “This (event) started back in June of 2024, and I needed to change some stuff,” he said as he reflected on his personal journey throughout the past nine months, which included overcoming mental health obstacles and losing more than 20kg. “So, I decided to do a 12-hour challenge. “I knew I had to have a goal at the end of it, and I never gave up, and I think that’s the message for everyone, if you want to try to achieve something, you can. “To have the support of so many people from the local community who have been there alongside me every step of the way, words can’t describe how thankful I am. “When we chose Love Your Sister as the charity we wanted to raise money for, and when it was later confirmed actor Samuel Johnson, who co-founded the charity would be here in Junction Hill for the event, that just changed everything. “A lot of hard work went on behind the scenes to make this event possible, and we had some fantastic donations given to us by a long list of local businesses who also sponsored the event, and to have raised so much more money than I expected, and for such an exceptional cause, I’m just so thankful to everyone who donated and helped us out so we could help Love Your Sister and support the amazing work they do.” Describing Mr Crispin as the hero of the occasion, Samuel, who joined him on the courts throughout the day for several games of tennis, praised him for his efforts and said every single dollar and cent raised would go directly to Love Your Sister, which advocates to fund the most innovative medical researchers and clinicians in the country in their efforts to provide cancer patients with precision cancer treatments. “To everyone here today you deserve to be thanked for your attendance,” he said. “You deserve to be thanked if you contributed at all to making one of the most special days of Darren’s life happen. “Weeks and months of preparation have gone into this, people have worked hard, not just Darren, and I want to say thank you to all of you.” A further $2000 was raised following the 12-hour tennis and pickleball marathon when leftover food donated by local businesses was auctioned to attendees. To learn more about Love Your Sister, please visit www.loveyoursister.org