Why I’m doing the Etape Loch Ness challenge for the second time

March 6, 2020

And raising money for Churchill Hospital in Oxford, by Jason Jones 

Jason Jones with his mum

The Etape Loch Ness means a lot to me. I did it for the first time last year, spurred on by my mum (Yvonne). She was there to see me finish as she was in between her treatments for acute myeloid leukaemia. That was on 28 April and just a few days later, on 2 May, my mum told me she only had days to live. She passed away on 17 May.

This year, I’m riding the Etape for the haematology ward at Churchill Hospital in Oxford where my mum was cared for after she was diagnosed in October 2018. I’ll be cycling with a former school friend, Joanna Fallows, who is fundraising for the melanoma charity in memory of her mum who had skin cancer and passed away 15 years ago.

I was born in Edinburgh, lived in Fort Augustus between 1978 and 1994 and now live in Witney, Oxfordshire. So, the route of the Etape takes me through many familiar places, including the climb at Glen Doe. My friend and me went to Kilchuimen Academy, or what was then Fort Augustus Secondary School, so a lot of the roads will be familiar to us.

I loved completing the 66-mile challenge last year and enjoy getting out on my bike. I wasn’t a keen cyclist until I made the decision to do the Etape for first time, which saw me going out to train for about 60 to 70 miles every two days. I got fitter and lost a lot of weight.

I also suffer from mental health issues and sometimes think I can’t do things, but cycling is a good way of focusing the mind. Doing the Etape is partly about confronting things that have affected me in life.

My dad is coming up with me to Scotland and we’ll be camping – although I will be staying in a hotel in Inverness to get a comfortable bed on the Friday and Saturday before I cycle. I’ll be cycling on a mountain bike which makes the challenge even tougher than trying to do it on a lighter road cycle.

As well as doing the Etape, I’m organising events around where I live in Oxfordshire, including a comedy night and music gig, with the aim of raising £2,000 in total for the hospital.