Famous Big Pink Dress to miss Great North Run this year amid his own cancer treatment

For the first year in a decade there will be a Big Pink Dress missing from the start line of the Great North Run.

Intrepid fundraiser Colin Burgin-Plews is "gutted" to be absent from this year's race, but said his health - he himself was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma last year - meant getting around the 13.1 mile course, never mind in his signature giant dresses, would have been impossible.

The much-loved South Shields figure won't be entirely absent though, for the first time he will be a spectator at the event, and at the finish line to cheer on others. He's also still raising cash - again this year his chosen charity is the Newcastle Hospitals Charity, inspired by the "amazing" care he has received at the Freeman hospital.

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Colin, 56, told ChronicleLive: "I had my PET scan last Monday. It's the first one I've had since last November so I will soon find out what the situation is. Hopefully it will be good news. I have been on immunotherapy, they try and kill off the chance of the cancer coming back worse.

"Not being able to do the run is killing me, I have to be honest. I'm coming to terms with it now, but it's been part of my life for the last decade. I did the run not long after my heart problems, but this is different.

"You wouldn't look at me and think I look like I have got cancer, and I can walk about a bit, but if I walk more than a mile or so then I am just absolutely exhausted. Unfortunately there's no way I'd have managed 13.1 miles."

However, while feeling bereft at not taking part this year, he's still keen to make his inimitable mark and help others. He said: "Somebody said they'd donate for me not to do it this year! So I've got a page up and up to about £100. I will be going down to cheer people on, it's the least I can do.

"The hospital staff at the Freeman have been amazing. I just wanted to do something for them after they've done so much for me. And I felt so bad that I couldn't do the run! I'll just have to come back better than ever next year."

To support Colin's latest fundraiser, click here.