See South Shields man's '˜run face' which landed him a London Marathon place

Paul Jukes, 42, is getting set to take on the capital’s 26-mile challenge for a second time next month.

Paul, from Horsely Hill, South Shields, won his place after entered a Virgin Money Giving social media competition where he was asked to Tweet a photo of his ‘run face,’

The E-Learning administrator, said he Tweeted the photo with #runface in May last year after a run in Gateshead. .

He said: “I have been doing charity runs for the Make A Wish charity since 2013 and, as part of that, I have completed three Great North Runs and one London Marathon.
“Last year Virgin Money Giving ran a competition on twitter and Instagram asking people so send them their best running face to win a place in this year’s marathon.
“I decided to enter a photo of myself finishing the The Great North 10K in Gateshead.”

He added: “The competition was drawn the day after the Blaydon Races last year and they sent me an email saying; ‘do you want to run the London Marathon?’”

Mr Jukes, who takes part in the South Shields Park Run every weekend, accepted the place and was told the only condition was that he had to use Virgin Money Giving to raise £250 or more for charity.

He added: “I chose to raise money for Make A Wish Foundation UK again and it is going to be my last charity run for quite a while.

“Over years I’ve raised over £2,800 for the charity, and would love to make that overall total at least £3,500.”

He added: “I only started running in 2014 when I said I wanted to do the Great North Run before I turned 40.
“The picture that was chosen was completely candid. It was not posed at all.
“I think only 10 people from across the country were selected so it is a great feeling to have won.”

To donate to Paul’s fundraising effort, visit: www.virginmoneygiving.com/paul-jukes

Follow his progress on: www.facebook.com/RunfaceDoesLondon