The editor of a North East weekly will be putting his best foot forward on Sunday morning when he tackles the Great North Run.

Damian Holmes, of the Whitby Gazette, is raising funds for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution which has a lifeboat station and museum in the North Yorkshire coastal town.

It will be the first time he has done the world’s largest half marathon and was inspired to do so by his wife who has completed the Newcastle to South Shields race four times.

He said: “She keeps asking me when I’m going to do it, and I guess I just ran out of excuses.

“And once I’d decided to do it, there was only one charity to do it for as editor of the Whitby Gazette.

“The lifeboat crew here do a tremendous job and I know it is a charity very close to the heart of Whitby.

“The most I’d run before I started preparing for the Great North Run is about four miles, so training has been tough.

“I know it’s all going to be worthwhile when I cross that finishing line, although it could be quite late in the day when I come through.”

Also doing the Great North Run is Andrew McCreaddie, chief reporter from the Knutsford Guardian, who is hoping to raise £1,000 for the premature baby charity Bliss.

Damian has so far raised £125 – to sponsor him visit his online fundraising page.