THE charity ultra-runner nicknamed Run Geordie Run has changed his route across Europe following the recent terror attacks in Turkey.

Mark Allison is now due to finish his cross-continent run a week early in Belgrade, Serbia, instead of Istanbul, on Thursday, July 21.

He will have clocked up 2,650 miles in 82 days, nearly 300 miles further than his Australia run, giving him a total of 9,000 miles run so far around the world.

Mr Allison said: “It’s been a difficult decision to change the run at this stage.

“There was a tremendous amount of preparation involved in choosing the route and I was really looking forward to the finish being in Turkey.

“However, the safety concerns were such that it just wasn’t sensible to continue as planned, either for me or the support team.

This week, Mr Allison has celebrated both his second wedding anniversary and 45th birthday pounding the pavements of Slovenia, as he continues his run across Europe in aid of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation and The Children’s Foundation.

He said: “The two charities were, rightly, concerned and after expert advice from the Consul General of Turkey we all agreed the best thing to do would be to revise the route.

“I’ll now finish in Belgrade, which gives us options to go north or south of the Black Sea for the next stage of the Around the World Run.”

Mr Allison, a software developer from Northumberland, has now run through Portugal, Spain, Andorra, France, Italy and Austria.

He is currently in Slovenia and has Croatia and Serbia to come.

The father-of-one, who lives in Bedlington, Northumberland, set himself the challenge of running 20,000 miles around the world and in order to complete the Europe segment of the run, he is running around 38 miles almost every day.

He has already run the length of the UK, across the USA and Australia on previous challenges.

Mr Allison said: “I’m finding it harder than any other run I’ve done. We’ve now raised £39,835 though this Europe run and knowing that is what keeps me going.

“I hope that everyone kind enough to have made a donation to the two charities feels I’ve earned it.”

To donate visit: www.virginmoneygiving.com/rungeordierun.