Pride at stake!

During the big run this Summer I raced 26.2 miles against a mackem challenger (Steven Moore) through the Cairngorms. I gave my all that day to ensure the right result and as I've mentioned many times before I ran out the winner leaving the poor mackem with his first derby day defeat of the season. Steven will be at the match, in the West stand. Steven - if you're reading this, I'll make sure to "wave" in your direction.

Let's hope that the lads follow this up tomorrow at the dark place and bring back 3 points to Tyneside! It should be the usual tense occasion. In particular, I'll be watching out for flying bricks coming in the direction of the buses. One put out a pane of glass in the bus I was in, the season that Nikos Dabizas scored the winner (Feb 2002). It's just good banter!

I was asked by the BBC to write a short piece on the derby day occasion. You can read my thoughts by clicking here. I'll be writing a follow up piece next week so watch out for that!

Derby day showdown - the rules

Tomorrow's derby day spoils are up for grabs in the following format.

Kick off 07:30 am

First person to the 9 mile point - 1 goal
First person to the 18 mile point - 1 goal
First person to the finish (26.2 miles) - 1 goal

There will be no chance of a draw. There can only be one winner.

Tyne versus Wear derby battle to commence early!

If running 900 miles in itself wasn't enough, I've now been challenged, by a young Mackem from work, to a race of mountainous proportions. Steven Moore, who proudly supports that team who play in red and white, reckons he can beat me over any 26.2 mile section of the Land's End to John O'Groats route. I told him today that my choice of route was the 26.2 mile course from Kincraig to Dalwhinnie. This section runs through the Cairngorm National Park in Scotland so there's plenty of hills where we can battle it out for local bragging rights!

Steven and I will be wearing our respective team's colours and he has agreed to ask his friends and family for sponsorship in aid of the hospice. It should turn out to be some battle indeed as Steven is 10 years younger and 5 stone lighter than me. Not to mention that fact that I will have run 160 miles over the previous 6 days. There's no room for excuses though! I'll be hoping to follow in the footsteps of O'Brien, Dabizas, Bellamy, Shearer, Emre, Chopra etc etc and get one over the local rivals.

Steven commented earlier today that "Derby games are never pretty and whoever wants to defend the pride of their club the most will probably be the eventual victor.". So the first Tyne v Wear derby will be 13th July this year (also my birthday!) Challenge accepted!