A teenager from Barnes who now studies at Oxford will row 165 kilometres against the current in honour of her father who died from a brain tumour.

Joanna Heymann, 19, studies engineering at Oxford and lost her father, Dr Tim Heymann, in October 2016. He was only 55.

Dr Tim Heymann worked at Kingston Hospital for over 20 years as a gastroenterologist.

Joanna said: “He was an amazing man who was a doctor, a university lecturer and a director of various public bodies. He was much loved by his patients and students, and his many friends and family.”

Joanna is planning to row in a single skull from London to Oxford in early March this year. She is aiming to raise £20,000 for Cancer Research UK in tribute to her father and to help find a cure for cancer.

She will start where the annual Oxford versus Cambridge boat race starts on the Thames at Putney Bridge, rowing the boat race course and then continuing until she reaches Oxford.

Joanna added: “This is a really challenging trip. It is usually done by boats with eight rowers, which is much easier.

“Boats normally row from Oxford to London with the flow of the river, rather than against it.

“I am aiming to complete it in three days.”

As an accomplished rower with racing experience, Joanna said she is looking forward to the gruelling three-day row.

She said: “I am an experienced rower so relish this challenge. I rowed for Oxford in the Oxford Cambridge lightweight boat race in 2017.”

Joanna’s ex coach Peter Brewer, from Putney High School where she studied A-levels, has been offering advice having himself done the Putney to Oxford route as a double.

Joanna said: “He was the one who encouraged me to try for lightweight in the first place; young people don’t often get weight categories so I never particularly excelled before then because of my size.” 

Joanna was originally a cox, inspired to row from watching the Oxford versus Cambridge boat races as a child. 

Any donations would be much appreciated to help Jo reach her target. Please donate online.