Hi

I am Jack and I am riding the 100 miles London to Essex in May 2024 for my friend Matt Neason.

I met Matt in 2016 during freshers week at uni when we both signed up to join the world-beating rowing club at Royal Holloway University of London. He really doesn't need reminding but Matt was always a much better rower than me given that he is nearly a foot taller and has freakishly long legs. He would always set the best times in training and was the first name on the team sheet for competitive races.

One of my personal greatest all time achievements therefore was beating him and the rest of his legendary boat at the Allom Cup Regatta in 2016 - proper David vs Goliath stuff. After a long day of rowing you could always find Matt (quite literally as his head would be towering above the rest of the crowd) at the Students Union dancing the night away with a rainbow selection of VK's in hand. What a bloke.

Unfortunately Matt recently found out he has a brain tumour. There are no words to describe how shit that news was as you never expect your mates to get diagnosed with cancer, especially not the fit and healthy 26 year old ones. There is not much that puts life into perspective quite like that.

Matt's attitude since the diagnosis has been nothing short of incredible. In classic Matt style, he dropped the news on us in the group chat with a candid "bad new fellas, I've got a brain tumour". Of course, I struggled to take him seriously at first, barely entertaining a response to what I thought was terrible humour. Little did I know, he was being 100% serious.

Since then, Matt has been carrying on his life as normal as possible - purchasing his his first property last year and progressing his career as what I can only describe as a professional bomb maker (he is a shotfirer, whatever that is). To his credit, Matt has continued to put smiles on the faces of his friends and loved ones which is something I cannot begin to tell you how much I respect about him.

Following a gruelling 9 (NINE) hour surgery in November and a subsequent positive biopsy in January, Matt is now doing something that will hopefully make a big difference to the thousands of people who are diagnosed with similar conditions every year. The Capsize Crew boys*, who go way back to first year of uni, have committed to riding a 100 mile cycle ride on behalf of the Brain Tumour Charity in May this year. Despite my woeful fitness I am proud to be joining Matt in this challenge and look forward to upsetting the odds by beating him again, just like the Allom Regatta in 2016.

*Me, Matt, Shashin Ekanayake, and Charlie Farley - we successfully managed to capsize a rowing boat in the River Thames, impressive stuff.

In exchange for all of the intense training I will have to do and ultimately the 100 mile cycle itself, I am kindly asking that if you are able to spare any any donations for an incredible cause, which helps brilliant young men women and children like Matt, please do donate:

The Brain Tumour Charity is the world's leading brain tumour charity and the largest dedicated funder of research into brain tumours globally. Committed to saving and improving lives, we're moving further, faster to help every single person affected by a brain tumour.

We're set on finding new treatments, offering the highest level of support and driving urgent change. And we're doing it right now. Because we understand that when you, or someone you love, is diagnosed with a brain tumour a cure really can't wait.