A husband and wife team from North Tyneside is taking on an enormous 50 mile running challenge this weekend to raise vital funds for children’s cancer research.

Chris and Lois Tack from Cullercoats who have been keen runners for four years now, will join approximately 600 other runners to run the Lakeland 50 ultra marathon this Saturday.

The course, which starts at 11.30am at the northern end of Ullswater in the Lake District, follows a 50-mile trail with a 3,000 meter ascent ending in Coniston.

Mr and Mrs Tack an RAF Aerospace Battle Management Officer, Tax Manager respectively, are both members of North Shields Polytechnic running club. They’re taking on the epic trail run to raise funds for the North of England Children’s Cancer Research (NECCR) fund in support of fellow club member Jim Richardson, whose son Brody was diagnosed with Leukaemia last year.

Chris explained, “We are hoping to raise as much money as possible for the NECCR fund. After we found out about Brody’s diagnosis and all of the fund raising his dad Jim has been doing it seemed like the perfect choice, he is on a mission to raise as much for NECCR as possible, and we’ve decided to help as much as we can.”

Brody’s diagnosis came in November 2012 after he got a chest infection from which he couldn’t seem to recover, when this was followed by the appearance of bruises on his legs and eventually by red spots, his GP referred him to hospital with suspected meningitis.

Within hours a blood test revealed that it his condition was likely to be Leukaemia and Brody was transferred to the Children’s Cancer Unit at the RVI.

Jim explained how Brody’s diagnosis has impacted their family, “While the thought of Leukaemia was a terrifying to the whole family, we learnt in the days and weeks after we found out, that Brody’s prognosis is a 98% chance of the disease being treated successfully.”

This success rate however comes at a huge price as Brody faces more than three years of chemotherapy, steroids amongst other drugs.

Jim continued, “I decided to raise money for the NECCR after developing and understanding of just how critical further research is, it can not only help the next generation of children who develop cancer to beat the disease, it can mean fewer drugs, side effects and less time in hospital for all the kids who are diagnosed.”

So far this year Jim, along with family and friends, has taken part in lots of fund raising events on behalf of the NECCR including The Children’s Cancer Run and a slightly longer, 69 mile run from Carlisle to Newcastle along Hadrian’s Wall, which Jim completed over a weekend in June raising over £7,500.

Jim’s relentless fund raising is an inspiration to Chris and Lois who doubted they’d ever take on the Lakeland 50 for a second time. Chris said, “This is the second time we’ve run this Ultra, we both love being in the lakes and had despite swearing never again as we crossed the line last time the camaraderie and selective memory saw us sign up again, after all it’s all for a very worthy cause!”

“We’ve really pushed ourselves with the training so we’re hoping to cross the finish line in Coniston at around 3am, it’s going to be a challenge but the scenery, atmosphere and sense of accomplishment makes it very worth while.”

“We’ve both done the GNR three times as well as other trail races, I’ve already done two trail marathons this year including the Scafell Pike Marathon. I’m also doing a 50km mountain race the day before I do the GNR this year.”