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As you may know Marcus Stewart was recently diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease, having a daughter living with Type 1 diabetes inspired me to support the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation to help find a cure for the condition.

If you don’t know of Marcus, he was a legend at Ipswich Town FC from 2000 to 2002, helping securing promotion to the Premier League in 2000 & a subsequent 5th place finish in 2001. He was the scorer of remarkable goals including 2 against Bolton in the semi final of the playoffs in 2000, when we were 2-0 down.

Jason will by cycling alongside 6 other riders including Marcus’s uncle Peter Tubb, who has organised the ride which visits all of the 7 Marcus’s former clubs. The 1st leg, starting at the Stadium of Light, home of Sunderalnd on the 4th October, will visit the John Smith’s stadium, home of Huddersfield Town on the 5th October before finishing at Portman Road for the home game v Preston on the 7th October.

Jason was inspired to ride for Marcus’s charity after jumping into/meeting him at the Plymouth game in January last season, having just bought a new home shirt with his name and number 11 on the back. He has since gone on to buy the new away shirt, with Stewart’s name again across the back alongside the number 27, the number Stewart wore in the year Ipswich were promoted to the Premier League in 2000.

Jason says “I remember when I heard Marcus was diagnosed with MND, it reminded me when my daughter Maddie was diagnosed with the life changing condition, type 1 diabetes. Though I couldn’t change the diagnosis, I was determined to support her, so my wife Helen bought me a bike and I went onto to raise over £15,000 for JDRF UK, the type 1 diabetes charity. I wanted to do something for Marcus too, so approached his wife Louise through Instagram after the Plymouth game and said I’d like to cycle for Marcus, not knowing there were already plans afoot”.

Peter Tubb said “Like most people, it was devasting to hear of Marcus’s diagnosis. It hit the family really hard, although we can’t really imagine what it must have been like for Marcus. Like most families we talked about what we can do to help, and we quickly turned to topic of cycling given the amount of cycling that I do. However, I must give credit to my son George (Marcus’s cousin), who came up with the idea to cycle to 7 of Marcus’s former clubs, though, when I spoke to Marcus and his wife Louise they had been discussing the very same thing the previous evening!”

Marcus himself said “I’ve been overwhelmed by the support that everyone has given me since the news of my diagnosis, the current fundraising total for #TeamStewart254 sits at an incredible £238,000 and I’d like to say a massive thank you to everyone that has already contributed to that. Specifically, to Jason, Peter and their fellow riders I’d like to say Specifically, to Jason, Peter and their fellow riders I’d like to say, it is an amazing thing you are doing and I'm very proud of your efforts. I will be keeping an eye on your progress along the way and make it safely to Portman Road to see Ipswich secure the 3 points v Preston, in what I hope will be a promotion winning season ”