A computer software developer, nicknamed Run Geordie Run, who runs across continents for charity, tells Gavin Havery how the roots of his punishing running schedules lie in the North-East’s famous half-marathon

THE sight of thousands of people pounding the streets of Tyneside made quite an impression on young Mark Allison. He was nine years old when the first Great North Run set off across the region’s iconic Tyne Bridge to South Shields.

Three decades later he can run three half-marathons back-to-back, every day, week after week. His quest for adventurous challenges has seen him running through the snow and deserts of America, and he now has his sights set on the blistering heat of the Australian outback.

But he says his fascination with running began with the region’s famous road race, which was launched in June 1982 with 12,000 competitors, and now attracts people from around the world.

“I think it started when I was younger and the Great North Run did have a part to play in it. Also, seeing the likes of Charlie Spedding, a local athlete, when I was at an impressionable age, gave me the idea that running long distances was possible,” says 40-year-old Mark.

“Later, I had other reasons for running considerable distances, but I think the seeds were planted when I was very young.” Mark was born at the Princess Mary Hospital in Jesmond, Newcastle, on July 13, 1971, to Terry, a civil servant, and Margery, who looked after the family. He was brought up in Washington, with his brother, David, and sister, Christine, attending Blackfell Primary School and Oxclose Comprehensive.

After his O-levels he completed a BTEC National Diploma in computing studies at Monkwearmouth College, before achieving a 2:1 degree in IT from Sunderland University. But the death of close family members within seven years of each other changed the course of his life.

He lost his father to cancer in 1988, his brother to a brain haemorrhage in 1990 and his mother to cancer five years later.

“When me mam died in 1995 at St Benedict’s Hospice in Sunderland, I had an immense feeling that I had a debt of gratitude to repay them for giving her a dignified end to her life,”

he says. “Running and raising funds was all part of the grieving process and was a coping mechanism. It is a way I can put the world to rights when I am out there and it gives me a lot of thinking time.”

Mark, who lives in Blyth, Northumberland, but has a wife and nine-year-old son in Shotley Bridge, County Durham, began a series of sponsored runs, before completing the journey from John O’Groats to Lands End in 2007.

It would be four years before he put £15,000 of his own money into his 3,100-mile American odyssey. His run from California to New York attracted media attention on both sides of the Atlantic and raised more than £105,000 for St Benedict’s Hospice and the Children’s Foundation.

“I am not the best athlete in the world, but I have found one of my best assets is mental strength,” he says. “My body can take one hell of a pounding out there on the road. I can put up with injuries and pain as I have done on the last two major runs. I don’t give up easily, in fact I don’t give up. I am yet to reach the level where I feel I have to give up.”

The run took him 100 days, averaging 30 miles a day, with a support vehicle and crew to allow him to rest not far from the roadside before setting off again. He was joined by fellow Newcastle United fans from the New York supporters’ branch for the final stretch, and ended with a sprint finish.

“To be an ambassador for the region is something I am happy to do and I am always telling people around the world what us Geordies are capable of,” he says. “It is a responsibility I do not take lightly, and I hope it gives the rest of the world a good impression of our region.

“I am extremely proud of where I come from. I love the people in the North-East, what we stand for, our values and how friendly we are.”

Amazingly, when Mark started the run he was a pie-loving 18 stone, but during the course of it he dropped five stones.

“Weight and diet fluctuate depending on my circumstances and how long I am running, that sort of thing. I am now about 16 stone and I have got to get down to 12 stone for Australia before I start.”

MARK is leaving for Down Under in October next year and aims to be on Bondi Beach in Sydney by Christmas Eve, 2013. His journey will include the sweltering Nullabor Plain, one of the most hostile environments on earth, and he plans to replicate the maximum of 41 miles a day he achieved in America, despite searing temperatures.

“I still have the strength and conditioning in my body from America, so it is a case of eating the right things and by the time I go to Australia I will be fully prepared,” he says.

“A lot of the run is a 600-700 mile wide piece of limestone. Not a lot grows there and it is very desolate.

That is the area that I have pinpointed as the most dangerous and risky part of the run.”

Mark is looking for sponsors to support him on the venture and reckons he needs to raise about £50,000 to pay for flights and a support vehicle for him and the crew to sleep in.

“I think people realise I am an ordinary man on the street, not an athlete and people are more prepared to put their hands in their pockets to support the two charities,” he says.

“I have got other big challenges in the pipeline, but need more commercial sponsorship as I can no longer afford to do it on my own.”

Once he is back from Australia, Mark will be returning to his job as an IT software developer with Virgin Money… until he gets itchy feet again.

“As long as I can get the financial backing, I will keep going until I am in a wheelchair. Even that probably wouldn’t stop me.”