A BUSINESSMAN is swapping his suit for running shoes to take part in a gruelling fundraising challenge.

Nigel Cook, managing director of Elddis Transport, based in Consett, County Durham, plans to run ten half-marathons in ten countries in just under ten months to raise money for Willow Burn Hospice, in Lanchester.

So far he has completed the Isle of Man half-marathon, the Great Scottish half-marathon, in Glasgow, and the Great North Run on Tyneside, raising nearly £9,000 along the way.

Over the next six months he will run half marathons in Amsterdam, Benidorm, Calvia, on the island of Majorca, Tromso, in Norway, Marrakesh and Lisbon before completing the challenge in Prague on April 2.

The 42-year-old said: “The challenge seemed like a good idea over a bottle of wine one night, but with three half-marathons completed and seven still to go over the winter months, I realise just what a long road it is going to be.

“There are a couple of the runs I am a little worried about. It will be very hot in Marrakesh even in January, but the big race is the Polar Nights Half-Marathon in Tromso.

This takes place 250 miles inside the Arctic Circle, in the dark, in the snow and ice, and in temperatures of between -5 and -10 degrees.”

His firm, which employs 280 staff and operates a fleet of 160 trucks, already supports the hospice through the trucking4willowburn project, which has raised more than £60,000 since 2007.

Supporters can follow his progress on runningmanco.blogspot.com