Journalism alumnus completes Brighton to Oslo bike ride

John Thompson (Periodical Journalism Diploma 1990) recently completed a series of challenges, including an 11 day / 1400km cycle ride from Brighton to Oslo in aid of Journalists’ Charity, Cancer Research UK and GIST Support UK, a network of patients and carers all affected by Gastro Intestinal Stromal Tumour cancer.

John’s first challenge last year was cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats (LeJoG). John says:

“I  have an older brother who I am quite close to and when we were younger we used to go on cycling holidays together. We often talked of cycling LeJoG, possibly on a tandem, but careers and families got in the way. Then my brother was diagnosed with GIST, a rare form of cancer and so I decided to do it by myself. At that point I hadn’t been on a bike for about 10 years!

So it all started as a personal challenge first and foremost, the charity fundraising was an afterthought – a good one as it turned out. Hugely rewarding and very motivating”.

John is now considering the coast to coast cycle network in August, although he says “Not solo this time. Nothing as major as Brighton to Oslo as yet – I need to forget how hard it was first!”

If you would like to sponsor John on his next challenge or help raise the profile of his fundraising, you can follow him on Twitter @johncthompson. Alternatively, please contact the Alumni Office – celia.enyioko.1@city.ac.uk -and we can put you in touch.

John is also the owner of journalism.co.uk. He says: “I set up Journalism.co.uk in 1999 to map the rapidly changing media landscape and also provide myself with a means of support having moved from London to Brighton (and not being a keen commuter). We provide media news, how-to features and tech tips; carry recruitment advertising; run training courses and the news:rewired events; provide training, events and award information, feature a freelancers directory; and publish and distribute press releases to suit journalists’ requirements”.

If you have your own news or an update you would like to share with your fellow alumni, please let us know!