Run Geordie Run announces plan to cross the world

Mr Allison announced his plans at Trinity House, Newcastle's centuries-old maritime base

A charity runner known as Run Geordie Run has announced his latest challenge will be to run around the world.

Mark Allison, from Blyth, Northumberland, will begin by covering 3,580 miles (5,760km) from Lisbon to Istanbul in 100 days in 2016.

Further ventures will follow until 2024, finishing in New Zealand having covered 20,000 miles (32,185km).

In 2013 an Australian challenge raised £55,000 for The Children's Foundation and the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.

He will split the round-the-world challenge into eight parts.

'Dreamt about challenge'

Mr Allison said: "Australia was the toughest thing I've ever done. I had no idea how hard it would be. It almost broke me.

"When I came home I needed time to recover, mentally and physically, and I began thinking about why I run, why it's important to me and why I feel the need to continue.

"It was clearly all very much on my mind because I dreamt about this world challenge. I could see a map of the world with segments crossed off which I've already covered.

"It sounds daft but that's really how I came up with this idea."

His round-the-world effort will take him through 23 countries across four continents.

The European leg will see him run through both the Pyrenees and the Alps, taking in challenging climbs.

Mr Allison was inspired to raise funds in memory of his father Terry, who died of cancer in 1988; his mother who died of lung cancer in 1995 and his brother, David, who died after a brain haemorrhage in 1998.

He has now raised more than £200,000 for good causes over 20 years.

In 2011 he completed a 3,100-mile (5,000km) run across the United States, from California to New York, covering an average 30 miles (48km) a day.