A Tyneside trio are taking on one of the North East’s greatest challenges next month as they aim to compete The Great North Run together dressed as a camel and its accompanying sheikh.

In true Great North Run tradition, brothers Paul and Alan Charlton, 53 and 50 respectively and their friend Keith Stanger, 50, have decided to don the fancy dress costume and make their challenge a little more interesting, as they hope to raise as much money and awareness as possible for North of England Children’s Cancer Research (NECCR).

After completing nearly 50 Great North Runs between them, the three friends, originally from Newcastle and South Shields, decided to add the fancy dress element to their running tradition after various injuries meant they had considered hanging up their running shoes for good.

The runners were reluctant to give up altogether however, as Paul explained, “All of our previous attempts at Great North Runs have seen us complete the route in reasonable times, but as we discussed entry this year, we were tempted to hang up our running shoes due to a few niggling injuries.”

“It was when Keith was asked what he would like to do in his “significant year” – when he’ll turn 50, that he raised this strange ambition to complete the Great North Run in fancy dress.”

“We had dismissed the idea with distain when he had come up with the suggestion in previous years but being true friends and as it is his 50th, we foolishly agreed.”

While they don’t expect to set any record times for completion the friends are taking on the challenge ahead with a great sense of humour.

Paul continued, “The chances Alan successfully navigating a camel from Newcastle to South Shields may be slim and without the camel’s ability to hold water for days on end, we’ll be very tempted to veer towards any bars we pass en route – especially as I’ll be in the lead. Keith will bring up the rear, and deservedly so as all of this was his idea.”

“The original idea behind this costume was to slow us down and avoid further injury so we’re not aiming to set any records, however the costume shop does want the camel back by the following Tuesday, so we can’t slack off too much.”

Of course behind all of the jokes and the immense effort that will go into completing the 13.1 mile route from Newcastle to South Shields, there is a serious and worthwhile message; to raise a lot of money and awareness for the team’s chosen charity, NECCR.

The NECCR fund was set up to direct charitable donations into research with minimal administration. The research focuses on the causes of and new treatments for children’s cancer.

Based at the RVI in Newcastle the research funded by the charity has played a significant role in developing new, more effective and less harmful treatments for various children’s cancers, improving survival rates by 60% over the past 30 years, meaning that now 80% of children diagnosed with cancer recover fully.

Paul, Alan and Keith are fund raising for NECCR through Just Giving, if you’d like to support their efforts, you can donate on their page here: http://www.justgiving.com/Paul-Thomas-Charlton.