The final total for 2008

Good news this week as the Northern Rock Foundation have rubber stamped the final application for matching in respect of this year's Pennine Challenge cycle ride and run.  This leaves the final total for the event at an impressive £2601.

This year's team was made up of  cyclists Michael Dunn, Ian Glasgow and Jim Patterson and runners Steven Moore (pictured left), Jonathan Dixon (pictured right), Mark Cass, Carlton Fletcher and cycling and running was yours truly, Mark Allison.

And of course, none of this would have been possible without the roadside support team of Mandy Baker, John Brettell and Katy Allison.

There is already talk in the office of putting on the event again next year.  Watch this space!

Day 79 - Rock Steady!

Newcastle Falcons and now Newcastle United have come out to support Northern Rock this week. It was nice to see the first team warming up today with "ROCK STEADY" t-shirts on as well as all the positive advertising around the stadium.

You might be interested to know that there are thousands of pounds of this runner's sponsor money deposited with Northern Rock. This, of course, will be handed over to the Hospice this Thursday at the specially organised Cheque Presentation Evening along with a very generous donation from the Northern Rock Foundation.

While I'm on the subject - plans and preparations for the evening are almost complete. There will be 120 people in attendance representing all aspects of the run. I'm delighted to announce that Biffa from NUFC.com will be there along with some of the readers of his site. Friends, family and colleagues will be there on what should be one of the proudest evenings of my life. Pats on the back, high fives and hugs from the ladies will be the order of the evening!

The buffet should be good. I've already had a sample of the sausage rolls from caterer Lesley Hanson. Lesley, who runs a catering business in her spare time, is providing her services and food at cost price!

I'll be posting the last lot of tickets tomorrow so don't panic if you haven't got yours yet. I'll be finishing off the speeches on the bus on the way to Arsenal on Tuesday. I should get back from this trip in the early hours on Wednesday morning. I have a game of 5-a-side on Wednesday night so goodness knows how tired I'll be come Thursday. I haven't played 5-a-side for 2 years due to the need to avoid injury. Expect a full match report and possibly some photos and a few diagrams of the wonder goals I score!

Day 72 - The book title.

It's 72 days since I set off from John O'Groats and 35 days since I reached Lands End. The big run and it's aftermath continues to dominate my thoughts and daily activities.

Firstly, I've had a brilliant suggestion for the book title today. All will be revealed if it ever hits the shelves/bargain buckets. In the meantime, I'm giving it a working title of "Mark Allison's excellent adventure". Don't worry, the proper title is far better! I've started to put pen to paper and a local celebrity has agreed to do the foreword.

On the fitness front, today was my first rest day in 7 days. I'll be having another rest tomorrow as I'm going to the Derby match. Get your money on 3-1 to the Toon by the way. I'm really eager to build on my fitness and take things to the next level. On top of the running and gym sessions I hope to do a few classes soon. I like the sound of "spinning" classes. I remember seeing some people in a right state at the Marriott gym after one of those sessions. Watch this space as I hope to do my first class this week.

Out of £28,120, there is now less than £1,000 sponsor money to collect before the cheque is handed over in 2 weeks time. Thank you to everyone who has paid so promptly. Once the money is all collected in from the individual sponsors a cheque from the Northern Rock Foundation will follow. As I've stated before, the Foundation are double matching every permanent member of Northern Rock staff's contributions. Those contributions currently stand at £3,100, meaning a whopping £6,200 goes to make up the £28,120. The Northern Rock Foundation along with the staff of Northern Rock and not forgetting NUFC.COM and it's readers are owed a massive thank you from both myself and St Benedict's Hospice.

Sponsorship landmark and then some!

I was just sitting in a pub in Wick getting my tea when a text message came through saying that my run had been publicised on www.nufc.com and the fund raising target of £5000 had been exceeded. Straight away, the "pre match nerves" gained as a result of the 400 mile drive on the route, lessened somewhat. I'd just like to express my gratitude (from my cheap B&B in Wick and via a dodgy wi-fi connection) to those readers of nufc.om (some of who I know) for the most generous donations. From a personal point of view, it's going to be a great help over the next 36 days, knowing I'm running for such a sizable amount. I was so excited when I was told the fund was over £5000 that I almost bought myself a pint in the pub. Almost!

That's not the end of it either. Earlier good news came when I found out that the Northern Rock Foundation have agreed to double match all pledges made by Northern Rock employees. So that's £2 donated by the Foundation for every £1 pledged by my colleagues at Northern Rock.

I'm still coming to terms with these amazing amounts and I'm trying to calculate how much exactly I'll be running for. I should be having an early night really! I think it's in the region of £9000. I'm going to therefore increase my fundraising target to £10,000. This is to ensure that I keep putting in the effort on the fundraising front while en-route.

Once again thanks to one and all for the kind pledges and to nufc.com and the Northern Rock Foundation.

This is Mark Allison signing off from the B&B in Wick. Let the adventure begin!