Mark Walsh, who stood down as a Labour councillor in 2004, will be running the gruelling 13.1-mile half marathon for the sixth time.

This year he'll have extra support from the Mayor, Coun Alex Donaldson, as he donates his sponsorship to the official Mayor's charities, St Clare's Hospice and Cancer Connections.

He said: "Back in 2006 I did it for the then Mayor's charities, and I said to Coun Donaldson at the time that if he became Mayor, I would do it again for him, so I've kept my promise."

However, the charities are important to the 42-year-old – his mother passed away from cancer when he was 16, and his wife Ann's mother also died from the disease.

His close colleague Ken Stephenson, a magistrate and former Labour candidate who died earlier this month, also spent time at the Jarrow
hospice.

The father-of-one, from Mortimer Road, South Shields, said: "Both of these charities are very personal to me, so it's nice to help them out whenever I can."

Training has been going well for the local government officer, he's already clocked up a number of five-mile runs before the big event on Sunday.

He's hoping to trim a few minutes off last year's time and complete the run in 1hr 35mins.

He said: "Everything's been going really well so far, so I'll stay hopeful."

Coun Donaldson added: "I've known Mark for a long time, and it's a very admirable what he's doing.

"These charities are clearly very important to him from a personal point of view.

"I've been collaring all the councillors and workers at the Town Hall to sponsor him, so hopefully he'll manage to raise a good amount, and we all wish him well."