Great North Run - your stories

Tim Richardson arrived in Newcastle on the Thursday before the Great North Run having cycled through Spain, France and England.

His efforts raised about £15,000 for Jane's Appeal, the charity set up by Jane Tomlinson.

Read the full story below but first read about how Tim got on with the run. He wrote after returning to his home in Spain.

Tim's Great North Run 2008

"The GNR took its toll very heavily at around eight miles. I was fine until then and never seemed to be in bother, but one muscle after another failed on me, and I hobbled across the line around the 1 hour 50 mark.

This French place name is quite apt

"Slowest yet, but not nearly as slow as the walk from the plane to the luggage area at Malaga airport today!

"Great atmosphere and weather though, and surprising how many people patted me on the back on the way round.

"The final fundraising will be around £15,000, although we are still getting a few more in daily as it has been put in local newspapers from my travels - even old school friends have donated whom I haven't seen in years!

"Once my legs recover, I will be back in training but it may be a while before I seek out such a big challenge."

Read the original feature

When Tim Richardson went about setting himself what he calls a "severe" challenge he meant business.

He will take his place on the start line of the Great North Run having cycled 2,850km from Spain to the north-east of England on his own.

He arrived in Newcastle on Thursday 2 October tired but elated having cycled an average of 125 miles a day.

"When I first thought I would do it it seemed fairly straightforward but I then realised what a big challenge it was," he said.

"Now I have completed it I think 'wow'."

Tim lost about a stone over the two weeks

Inspirational story

One of the first things he was going to do was have a curry and then take it easy before the run on Sunday.

Tim believes he lost about a stone over the 14 days of cycling and burned about 7,500 calories a day. He cycled for about 10 hours a day just taking short rests to refuel.

His efforts have already raised more than £10,000 for Jane's Appeal, the charity set up by the late Jane Tomlinson to raise money for children's and cancer charities.

Tim said: "I have been meaning to do something severe for some time.

"I had followed Jane Tomlinson's story for quite some time. I just thought she did such a wonderful job in the face of adversity. That's what drives me.

"You can sit back and do nothing or get up and do something about it."

Tim hopes to meet up with Jane's husband Mike after the Great North Run on Sunday.

Along the way he found out his head administrator Paula Kilroy had been diagnosed with cancer and he dedicated his challenge to her and her family.

Strong head winds

It will be the sixth time Tim has done the Great North Run.

The 44-year-old got his taste for fitness challenges when he served with the Royal Navy between 1981 and 1991, which included time in the Falklands.

He has done a number of triathlons and plenty of cycling and his ambition is to take part in the Race Across America (Raam) bike race.

It took months to plan the route

Now a partner in a financial services company, he moved to Spain with his family four-and-a-half years ago and flies back to England every two weeks for business.

His wife Irene's family are from Seaham and so they have links with the North East.

He set off from Gibraltar on 18 September and cycled through Spain then headed into France from Biarritz up to Bordeaux and then Le Havre, where he took the boat to Portsmouth.

He said France had been a lot tougher than he expected because of a strong head wind.

He reached England on Sunday 28 September and on Monday 29 started cycling up England. He dropped in on his parents in Stamford before following the A15 up through Goole, Northallerton, York and on to Newcastle.

Tim said he sang songs in his head and got lost in his own thoughts along the way. He said he had been supported by people's texts and e-mail along the route.

He said: "One of the things was I said 'nothing is going to stop me'.

"What happens is when you get a bad bit of motivation in your head you just have to turn a few more pedals to get through it."

Fantastic experience

He suffered from saddle sores and said the hardest part was getting on the bike first thing every morning.

But he said it had been a fantastic experience which he had enjoyed.

Tim Richardson before setting off

He said: "From my own perspective I wanted to test myself to see what I was capable of.

"I think you get to the stage where you get into a comfort zone, get into a mould. I wanted to get out of that mould. And I wanted to do something for charity."

Just before he left, Tim watched the television series The Man Who Cycled the World about Mark Beaumont, who achieved the world record for cycling around the globe in early 2008.

Tim said: "It was almost as if it was sent for me. It was a real eye opener.

"He did an amazing job and it puts it in perspective. That's what really helped me along. I feel as if I am travelling with someone else."

Tim's original plan was to camp along the way but he ditched his tent and sleeping bag when he realised he couldn't do without a good night's rest before each day and needed a comfortable bed. So that meant losing a lot of weight.

But he carried everything else he needed including spare tyres, inner tubes, lights and clothes.

Irene was flying over to meet him in Newcastle. His aim is to complete the Great North Run in under 1hr 45mins.

He said: "It will be the sublime to the ridiculous. I am doing this completely on my own to doing the run with 47,000 or so people.

"It's great. Everyone likes to be there and it's a great community spirit. I have run lots of other races but the Great North Run is still the best."

Visit Tim's fundraising page: