Group of men racing to raise prostate cancer awareness in this weekend's Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga

Men's Health Month may be two weeks away, but a group of men visiting the city for this weekend's Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga are doing what they can to make prostate cancer a topic of conversation year-round.

"The bottom line is guys don't talk about this stuff. They don't want to talk about it," Georgia resident Peter Crescenti said.

Peter Crescenti competes in Ironman New York 2012. The two men will be competing in this weekend's Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga. (Photo via Peter Crescenti)

Crescenti is competing in Sunday's race with a team of about 15 others. They call themselves ZERO-The End of Prostate Cancer. Most of the group's members are competing in memory or in honor of brothers, fathers and others who have suffered from the second most common form of deadly cancer among men. However, three men in the group are racing for themselves. Those three - Crescenti, Karim Mella and George Myers - all were diagnosed with the disease. It will be the first time the three compete together.

Crescenti is a 54-year-old retired Navy officer who was diagnosed with prostate cancer more than seven years ago. Since then, he has run five full Ironman races, and this weekend's race will be his fifth half-distance Ironman event. Myers is a retired Teamster from Philadelphia competing in his 11th Ironman event (four full-distance, seven half-distance). However, it's Mella that Crescenti describes as a "bad mama jama."

Mella is an active-duty U.S. Army command sergeant major. He has summited Mount Everest twice, and plans to ride in a 350-mile mountain bike event later this year. He has finished 17 Ironman distance races and 10 half-Ironman distance races.

These are men who want other men to know it's OK to talk about the issues they face and openly discuss the problems that come with prostate cancer. Crescenti, Mella and Myers have all been through it. The pre-surgery fears, the aftermath of the procedure to remove the prostate, the impact it had on their sex lives and more.

Getting that dialogue started is one of the key reasons these men decided to compete. They knew to do that, they needed to do something big, and they decided on Ironman.

"It's a tough thing. So, I said, 'If we're going to man up and do this, let's do something a little more extreme,'" Crescenti said. "That makes it easier to have the conversation, but it takes time to move the needle. It's slow. That's why we continue to beat the drum on this issue."

The fear and stigma surrounding the disease often keep men from getting tested or properly discussing side effects, CHI Memorial Hospital robotic prostate cancer surgeon Dr. Lee Jackson said. The men's mission to bring awareness to the cancer is welcomed by the medical community.

"This is a good example that there really are no limitations [after the procedures]," Jackson said. "Most of the complications that men are worried about are real, but they're overinflamed. It discourages men from even getting screened or tested for prostate cancer, because they're so worried about how debilitating treatment can be. These men are a great example that it's not."

THE RACE

This year's professional race could look familiar for those who attended last year's version of Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga. The key competitors, and both winners, return to race in the Scenic City.

Anthony Zicchino sets up racks for bicycles in preparation for Sunday's Ironman 70.3 triathlon at Ross's Landing on Wednesday, May 16, 2018, in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Heather Jackson will look to win her third consecutive Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga. She won by more than two minutes last year and is one of the most decorated American triathletes. She was recently voted as runner-up for greatest American female triathlete in the Ironman 40th Anniversary "Best Of" poll.

Last year's overall winner Matt Russell returns, but a lot has changed since his last visit to Chattanooga.

During September's Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, he was hit by a van that pulled in front of him during the race. He suffered life-threatening injuries to his neck and head and underwent a series of surgeries. He has since recovered. His wife also delivered a son, Makaio, shortly after the 2017 Chattanooga race.

He will attempt to fend off former Ironman 70.3 World Champion Andy Potts and Antoine Jolicoeur Desroches, who nearly went wire-to-wire to win last year's race before cramping during the run and finishing third.

The prize purse for the Sunday race is $30,000, and 40 total age-group athletes will receive qualifying slots for the 2018 Ironman 70.3 World Championships in South Africa. Athletes hail from 45 states and 21 countries. The oldest racer is 81-year-old Herb Brown from Charlotte, North Carolina.

The event's more than 3,100 registrants will begin at 6:50 a.m. in the Tennessee River, one mile from Ross's Landing. The race will go back to its regular, non-World Championship course that features a predominately downstream swim, a ride through Chattanooga and North Georgia, and two loops through Chattanooga and the North Shore for the half-marathon.

The winner is expected to finish between 10:30 and 11 a.m.

Contact staff writer Mark Pace at mpace@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659. Follow him on Twitter @themarkpace and on Facebook at Chattanooga OutdoorsTFP.