Apart from an impulsive one off and very slow 5k about 10year ago I’ve never really run before.

My partner Alison will be running her 10th GNR this year and I somehow managed to promise I’d do it with her. Alison has always run for The Bobby Robson Foundation Trust after losing her husband to cancer in 2014. After knowing her story and learning about the great work the charity does funding clinical trials, early detection and cutting edge treatment, I feel motivated. Starting from scratch, the training is tough but now when I run I’m often flooded with thoughts of my closest friend Graeme Barker who was taken by cancer at the age of 57 in 2022. Typical of Graeme, he left his body to medical science knowing that he would be helping to train doctors, surgeons and consultants. I’ll be running the GNR in memory of my dear friend and his selfless way. If he knew I was doing this to help in even a small way, a charity that strives to find cures for cancer, I know he would be cheering me on all the way.

Sir Bobby Robson launched his Foundation to help find more effective ways to detect and treat cancer, after a request for help from his oncologist Professor Ruth Plummer. She was treating Sir Bobby as he faced cancer for the fifth and what he knew would be the final time.