A FUNDRAISER who travelled more than 6,000 miles in a year has been shortlisted for a national award.

Community Pride award winner Phil Wiggins decided he would try to run, swim and cycle 4,000 miles between his 40th and 41st birthday, to raise money for The Alzheimer's Society but ended up going 6,004 miles over 500 hours in 11 countries.

He raised more than £8,300 for the charity, and found out this week he has been nominated for the Daily Mirror Pride of Sport Award, parts of which may be broadcast on ITV next month.

Phil, from Acomb, said: "I know friends and family had nominated me after I won the York Press Fundraiser award, but I really didn’t think anything would come of it.

"Dragging myself out of bed on cold winter mornings day after day, I just couldn’t have imagined that my challenge would have received so much interest. It gathered momentum throughout the year and I couldn’t have imagined a better ending then to win at the York Awards on my birthday, and yet here I am going to a national awards ceremony. Quite unbelievable."

Phil said he hoped the additional coverage may help add to his fundraising total, and he and his wife Helena were looking forward to meeting the celebrities expected to attend the awards ceremony at Grosvenor Hotel in Park Lane, London on December 3.

He said: "Other than the finalists, the audience is made up of celebrities and sporting stars and hosted by Ben Shepherd, so hopefully I’ll get to meet quite a few stars. It would be good to meet the other Wiggo – Bradley. I might take my bike down and see if he fancies a ride out!"

Phil said he had enjoyed a little time off following his challenge, but he hadn't been inactive for long: "By the end of my challenge I was doing almost 1,000 miles a month, so after the Yorkshire Marathon - my last event - I was really looking forward to a rest! However, after two weeks my body was craving exercise and I think I was annoying Helena by being in the house so much, so I’ve already run an event in Manchester and have quite a full diary for 2015 already."