More than 20 relatives and friends of Bernard James, who died of pancreatic cancer in October last year, aged 51, took part in the Great North Run in his honour.

The group included his sons, Alexis, 25, and Seb, 22, and the runners raised hundreds of pounds each for two cancer charities.

Alexis said: "We have raised more than £10,000 so far and are close to reaching £11,000. The money is going to Everyman and Cancer Research UK.

"I've worked with Everyman for several years and it was happy to help us out by giving us all of its 13 allocated places for the run, while the rest of the team ran for Cancer Research UK.

"It'll soon be a year since my dad died, and as he did the Great North Run many times in his lifetime, it was a great way to honour him."

"I'm delighted and slightly overwhelmed by the effort put in by all members of 'Team BJ' to raise such a great amount.

"Clearly people who knew my dad had great affection for him and that's reflected in the amounts they have been happy to donate. We have even had an anonymous donation of £3,000."

Mr James, who grew up in Jarrow before moving to Bishop Auckland, County Durham, after qualifying as a solicitor, last did the run in 1h 50m in 2005.

The time was almost beaten by Seb, who completed the 13.1-mile race from Newcastle to South Shields in 1h 51m.

Alexis said: "I'm sure my dad would be very proud of us all. And he'd be delighted to see that his own time wasn't beaten!"

"The race itself was good fun but tough towards the end, but thankfully the dedication to fundraising was also matched by similar efforts in training and all the runners finished the race in good times."