Baring his sole for CAFOD

John McBride, 45, prepares to run part of the Great North Run 2008 barefoot [CAFOD]

One particularly intrepid supporter aims to raise hundreds of pounds in the Great North Run – by braving the north-east elements and running the final mile in his bare feet

John McBride, 45, a father of three, will line up along with over 50,000 other runners including a 200-strong team running for CAFOD, to compete in the famous half-marathon on Sunday 5th October.

John, a parishioner of St Patrick’s Church, Consett, says: “I’ve been a CAFOD supporter all my life, and completed the Great North Run twelve times before.

"I knew I was going to do it again this year, but wanted to do something a bit different to raise more money.

"The last mile’s pretty flat and on grass, so I thought, ‘why not?’”

No special training

The challenge will be even greater for John as he’s decided not to do any special barefoot training before the race in case he picks up an injury.

However, he is confident that he can survive for the last mile and is hoping to finish in under 2hrs 15 minutes.

He says: "I'll be keeping an eye out for other people who have big feet - even bigger than mine.

"But I think the worst might be the water stage on the last mile, because there'll be a lot of bottle tops, which could be quite interesting.

"But generally it should be OK, the field will be quite spread out by that time."

A member of Derwentside Athletics Club, John describes himself as a runner who is “keen when it’s good weather”, but is expecting to be nearer the back next Sunday and is relying on the crowd to get him home.

“I’m not really that nervous about it. The crowd is always great, urging you on, and I’m sure that even if I have to walk it, they’ll help me all the way.

"I want to raise money, but this is also about showing my solidarity with people who are poor.

"Some people overseas have no choice about wearing trainers or not. I want to try and support them.”

For more information contact Tim Sowula at CAFOD on 020 7095 5561

take action

Please support John online

If you would like to donate to John McBride's brave attempt to run the Great North Run barefoot, you can do so at his sponsorship page on Just Giving
Read a BBC interview with John