Six water company workers are set to tackle the Great North Run to raise funds for a charity that aims to make sure everyone in the world has clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene.
The Northumbrian Water employees are all taking on the challenge in support of WaterAid, a global charity that was founded by the business and other water companies in 1981.
They are doing this because:
• One in three - 2.3 billion people - on the planet don′t have a decent toilet of their own.
• One in nine - 844 million people - don′t have clean water close to home.
• 31% of schools don′t have clean water.
• Every minute a newborn dies from infection caused by a lack of safe water and an unclean environment.
• Diarrhoea caused by dirty water and poor toilets kills a child under the age of five every two minutes.
The Northumbrian Water Great North Runners are Elaine Howe, Clare Galland, Andrew Blakemore, Jeff Stobart, Adam Rogers, and Dan Todner.
They are among 100 people taking part for WaterAid.
Andrew, who is Chairman of the Northumbrian WaterAid Committee, said: "The Great North Run is an iconic part of life in the North East, but those who run it, and even those who line the streets to support the participants, couldn′t do so without proper hydration and clean water.
"There are hundreds of millions of people in the world who don′t even have that clean water available to go about their everyday lives.
"Opportunities such as this, to support and raise funds for WaterAid, are really important and it′s great that there are 100 people, including six from Northumbrian Water, taking on the Great North Run for this fantastic cause."
People can find out more about the work of WaterAid and how they can support the charity at www.wateraid.org/uk/