A YORK solicitor is on the run as he bids to complete 100 kilometres across some of England’s roughest countryside to help fund house-building projects in the Third World.

Colin Byrne relaxes from the stresses of representing criminals in court by pounding the pavements around York, as he trains for the Oxfam Trailtrekker challenge which takes place in the Yorkshire Dales this summer.

It will be his first attempt to run a long distance, and under the challenge rules he will have to complete the course in the same time as his three team-mates, competitive triathletes Richard Mostyn Jones and Andy Hopkinson and cyclist John Calver, who has cycled from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

Mr Byrne, a partner of York firm Howard & Byrne, was inspired to take up the challenge after seeing the work done by Oxfam.

He said: “A lot of their projects are long-term. Their programme of building homes for families in third world countries is particularly impressive.

“I have never run before, though I used to do a lot of sports until four years ago when I had a car accident. Since then I have been using a gym to strengthen my back.”

Mr Byrne now averages 40 km a week and despite the wintry weather he and the rest of his team, called The Muppets, have already done one training session on the hills around Skipton where the Trailtrekker challenge will be held on June 1.

Three hundred teams of four people each will set out on a 100km circular and try to complete it within 30 hours.

“I find it really relaxing,” he said of his regular training. “You are outside, away from your mobile phone and away from your job.

If you want to just think or totally relax, you can.”