A GROUP of 40 friends will be cycling across South Wales on Saturday in memory of their beloved friend.

Ride for MJ, now in its second year, is held in memory of former Wales centre Matthew J Watkins on what would have been his 43rd birthday.

Mr Watkins died on March 7, 2020, at the age of 41 after a long battle with a rare form of pelvic cancer.

South Wales Argus: The Ride for MJ team in 2020 at the start of their cycle to various rugby grounds in Wales.The Ride for MJ team in 2020 at the start of their cycle to various rugby grounds in Wales.

The ride will see stops at various stadiums that were held close to the player’s heart.

It will begin at Parc Y Scarlets in Llanelli, where Mr Watkins played between 2002-2008 for both Llanelli and the Scarlets.

The riders will also visit the Principality Stadium in Cardiff to highlight Mr Watkins’ 18 caps for Wales before heading to Rodney Parade – where he went professional in 1997 with Newport, making 121 appearances between then and leaving for Llanelli in 2002 and returned in 2009 to make 20 appearances for the Dragons and 10 appearances for Newport RFC before retiring in 2011.

Following this, they will ride to Pontllanfraith RFC before finishing in Oakdale – both clubs Mr Watkins played for during his youth.

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Gavin Bennett, a friend of Mr Watkins – affectionately known as MJ – organised last year’s event but was unable to take part due to quarantine. He has also been organising this year’s event, putting the finishing touches to the ride and preparing himself to take part.

“Last year I couldn’t do the ride because I had to quarantine but we had 22 people taking part," he said. "This year, we have 40 riders - all of those who rode last year are taking part again this year.

“Some of the volunteers from last year wanted to actually ride this year and we’ve also recruited more riders who knew MJ who will be joining us.

“It’s a lasting legacy that he’s created here. A group of friends going out and doing what he loved – cycling – in his memory. Some of the guys liked cycling and were very avid cyclists, but others went out and bought bikes to do this and are going to be going out more.

“We hope to do something like this every year as a way of remembering our friend and also raising money for Velindre who – like all charities – have suffered from a lack of fundraising over the past 18 months.”

So far, the group have raised £2,000 and expect, like last year, for more donations to come in on the day. Last year’s total was more than £16,000.

“We had a lot of our donations last year come in during the ride itself, people who watched MJ play at say, Scarlets, would donate while we were out during the ride which was lovely,” said Mr Watkins.

You can sponsor the group on their ride here: https://velindrefundraising.enthuse.com/cf/thematthewjwatkinstributefund