IT started with the desire to get fit to play for his football team - and this Christmas it led to Mark Teasdale giving £1,900 to the Leyburn branch of Yorkshire Cancer Research.

Three years ago, he entered the Great North Run to keep up his fitness during the summer.

He plays for Askrigg Football Club, in Wensleydale, even though he now lives at Brompton-on-Swale.

Last year he gave almost £300 to Get Kids Going. He now works for Walter Thompson contractors in Northallerton as a materials buyer. He said his business contacts were more than generous.

Since deciding to do the run his mother, Pauline, has been diagnosed with breast cancer and is undergoing treatment.