Remembering Jonathan Gales

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Jono's fundraiser has been featured in Cycling Weekly and the Jersey Evening Post.

Thanks to everyone who has donated this week of Jono's birthday to take us over the £10k mark, this means we can now start costing up the bikes. More updates to follow!

THE JONATHAN GALES MEMORIAL 25KM SCRATCH RACE

Last Saturday saw the inaugural event as part of the Dulwich Open. It was a fitting evening to launch this fundraiser; a beautiful evening at the track. Jono would have loved it - it truly was his happy place.

Photo by Max Clarke instagram.com/maxclarkephoto

THIS SATURDAY AT HERNE HILL

A TRIBUTE BY KEIR SUTTON

I first met Jono in 2014 at one of the road bike sessions at Herne Hill Velodrome for aspiring racers. As with other people who regularly attended, we had a few things in common; namely that we quite liked going fast, were highly competitive and had very little (no) experience in the world of bike racing.

Fast forward to the following year. We had both started racing and having been bitten with the racing bug, we were both spending a great deal of our free time indulging our love of riding bikes. As I spent more time with Jono, both training and ‘recovering’, I found that he was someone whose company I really enjoyed. Jono was a precious combination – fun, intelligent and witty, with a very wry sense of humour.

Hearing Jono’s achievements on the bike being highlighted by others is somehow befitting, as he was incredibly modest. From Bafta winner to talented musician he remained very quiet about his abilities and achievements.

Many of you may have memories of Jono at the Dulwich HHV sessions, doing his turn on the chain-gang and then sitting alongside you whilst doing 500 watts smiling, waiting for you to somehow pull though. As I said, a ‘wry’ sense of humour. Jono’s finest win (outside of pushing me into 2nd place at the Dulwich World Championships 2018) was of course beating Ethan Hayter to win the Tour of the Hopfields National B race in 2018. Obviously, it was a story worth telling a few times. The thought of Ethan (World Track Team Pursuit Champion 2 months prior) loudly exclaiming ‘f**k’ as Jono dropped him on the final climb still makes me smile.

I know that Crystal Palace Crits and everything that surrounded them were some of Jono’s fondest times. Late spring and summer evenings, hard racing with mates on the best circuit around followed by evening beers. As Ed from Four Boroughs pointed out, we were usually the last in there having squeezed all we could out of the evening, with a gentle roll down our respective hills taking us home for the night.

The loss of Jono is a genuine tragedy for the huge number of people whose lives he touched in one way or another but particularly for his wife Claire, their two-year-old son Fin and their unborn son. Jono leaves an irreplaceable hole in their lives and knowing that his boys won’t get to enjoy growing up with him is for me easily the most tragic aspect of his loss. 

Jono was a star in every aspect of his life. He was all you could hope for in a friend. It is true that you never fully appreciate what you have until it’s gone. So next time you find yourself on a warm summer’s evening enjoying a beer or two after a ride, raise a glass to Jono and let your mates know what they really mean to you.