Founder Marc finally completes 25th Nello ride

The man who founded one of the biggest charity rides in the region has completed this year’s event seven weeks after everyone else!

Topsham-based wine, food and travel writer Marc Millon set up The Nello in 2000 to raise money for FORCE Cancer Charity in memory of his great friend Nello Ghezzo.

He was all set for the special 25th ride in June this year when COVID struck and for the first time, he was forced to sit it out.

Marc and wife Kim usually complete the 100-mile ride, which starts and finishes at Topsham Rugby Club, on a tandem.

“Both Kim and I contracted COVID a few days before and we were both very poorly,” said Marc. “We were absolutely devastated not to be able to take part on the day but thrilled to hear how successful it had once again been.”

Marc was determined not to lose his record of riding every Nello so he teamed up with Pete Cain, Phil Domville-Musters and Martin Meredith, all of whom have been involved since the event began, to complete the 100-miler nearly two months later than scheduled.

“Over the past quarter of a century, The Nello has been a huge part of our lives and of many others. I was very glad to be able to do it again on such a beautiful day,” said Marc.

“The Nello is a testimony to the enduring power of friendship. It was born out of love, grief, sadness and disbelief that someone with such energy and vitality could suddenly be gone. We all may be 25 years older, but we’re still peddling and still remembering.”

The Nello is always on the final Sunday in June and this year’s ride attracted 1,300 cyclists who tackled the 100 or 60 mile routes safely and returned for a joyous Italian festival to celebrate the origins of the ride.

The 2024 ride raised a record £153,000 for FORCE, which offers free support and advice to anyone locally affected by cancer.

“The total funds raised since we began the ride in 2000 has reached £1.4 million, an astonishing achievement that FORCE and our whole community should be very proud of,” said Marc, who used the charity himself after a diagnosis of prostate cancer.

He and Kim established the ride after the death from cancer of 50-year-old local restaurateur Nello Ghezzo, just two years after the pair had ridden from Topsham to Venice to raise money for FORCE.

The 26th Nello will be held on Sunday June 29, 2025. FORCE will launch its early-bird option to enter for £40 on December 1 this year.

“We will be keeping the festival feel again for the end of the ride next year with food and entertainment. Friends and families were there to greet our amazing cyclists as they returned and there was a lovely party atmosphere, which people really appreciated,” said FORCE Events Fundraiser Chloe Richardson.

Pictured above (left to right) with their finishers’ medals: Phil Domville-Musters, Martin Meredith, Pete Cain and Marc Millon with grandson Sol Millon-Martinez.