ALL is not lost for charity runners following the cancellation of this year's Great North Run.

St Oswald's Hospice is hoping the 500 plus runners signed up to run the iconic half marathon to raise funds for the charity on September 13 will continue with their fund-raising efforts in a new event for the region.

The hospice's Challenge 13 is inviting everyone to clock up as many miles as they can in the 13-week build-up to the proposed Great North Run date, with a leaderboard to be started to help encourage an edge of competitiveness.

Danielle Harvey, events fund-raising manager at St Oswald’s, said: "The needs of our patients don’t go away just because the Great North Run can’t go ahead. In fact, they need us now more than ever, so we had to come up with an alternative.

Participants can sign up for Challenge 13 for free by going to www.stoswaldsuk.org/challenge-13.