THEY have hiked to Everest Base Camp, walked up Mount Kilimanjaro and traversed the island of Borneo. Now, while it's again an adventure like no other, it's one a little more local.
And all for the cause of fighting brain cancer.
The latest Mark Hughes Foundation fundraising trip began yesterday when the first of more than 30 participants headed off for the Top End Adventure Challenge.
Fresh off positive news from his latest brain scan, Hughes will take part in the trip and is being joined by some of his old Newcastle Knights teammates.
In what could be their toughest assignment yet, the adventurers will ride 400km, hike 35km and paddle 16km through Kakadu, Katherine Gorge, Jatbula and Litchfield National Parks.
"We've conquered some pretty big ticket items over the years with Kokoda, base camp and Borneo. So we've done some pretty crazy stuff and with the world the way it is we felt it was a good time to stay a bit local, and we picked Darwin with the challenge of the heat and humidity," Hughes said.
"There's 32 of us - people from all walks of life, a few ex-teammates. They all go out and pay their own way, raise money through their networks and out of that comes a total of money that we're all working for."
Hughes, a two-time premiership winner with the Knights, was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2013.
He and his wife Kirralee started the foundation shortly after. The charity's various endeavours have raised more than $20 million to fund research, create awareness and support brain cancer patients.
"It's really mind-blowing what the foundation has achieved, what Mark and Kirralee have achieved," Hughes' former teammate Paul Harragon said.
"I look at Hughesy ... for something so terrible, he has flipped it around and just keeps going and going and going. Everyone rallies for him because he is such a wonderful guy, but [brain cancer] is just crook; it's the biggest killer of kids and people under 40 with cancer. These trips, they help raise really great money."
The Top End trekkers have raised $420,000 so far. Donations can be made via the foundation's website.
Beanie for Brain Cancer Week is June 27 to July 1 and includes round 16 of the NRL. A new range of MHF beanies will be revealed May 1 and go on sale in June.
