He's back on the running trail! 'Big Pink Dress' Colin is pounding 26 miles for charity this weekend

Mega fundraiser Colin Burgin-Plews will be up early on Sunday – to ‘virtually’ do the London Marathon.

And even though he can’t tread the streets of the Capital this year, Colin is still hoping to have topped more than £6,500 raised for charity.

‘Big Pink Dress’ has become a fundraising hero since he first took up the title in 2014 when he ran the Great North Run and, that year, the charity he was running for had a pink colour theme.

Colin feared he wouldn’t make the £350 fundraising target in 2014 ... he raised thousands.

He has continued his magnificent fundraising this year despite the pandemic forcing many events to be shelved. He did the virtual Great North Run and now comes his latest challenge on Sunday on behalf of the Macmillan charity.

Colin said: “I am doing the Virtual London Marathon this weekend in the Macmillan outfit.

"As this one was meant to be in April, it is the same dress as in April. I am hoping to have about £6,500 raised for it.

"I will be going out round South Shields on Sunday morning, and I am talking very early. Hopefully I will see a few people out."

Colin added: “It will take a long time, about eight hours I reckon. It is not what we hoped it would be in London but there is nothing you can do about it.

"I won’t be doing it with anyone else. It will just be me so if anyone sees me, then social distance but I am hoping for selfies and things like that.”

Colin has already ‘ran’ the London event once this year. In April he did two kilometres a day for charity on a treadmill in his own home.

But his support for charity is all the more remarkable after he suffered his own health problems. Colin was rushed to South Tyneside District Hospital in July last year after suffering a problem with a valve in his heart and high blood pressure.

Amazingly, he recovered sufficiently to complete the Great North Run that year.

And now he is doing his bit yet again to support others.

To support Colin, visit here.

A message from the Editor:

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to the Shields Gazette website and enjoy unlimited access to local news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit here to sign up. You can subscribe to the newspaper with 20% off here. Thank you.