A YORK street trader who lost his father to Parkinson’s Disease will be running in the Great North Run tomorrow.

Steve Ogden, known as “Pedally Steve”, will leave behind his fretsaw and job of cutting children’s names, and join a team of more than 350 runners aiming to raise £140,000 for Parkinson’s UK.

Steve, whose father died in 2010, said: “After his diagnosis my father became active in the local Parkinson’s group where he lived, eventually becoming its chairman.

“His example of giving back to others for as long as he was able is one that has kept me focused on the training that I’ve had to do for this run.

“I only took up running on my birthday in January and since then I’ve done 107 training runs (including the York 10k) and run over 350 miles.”

Steve hopes to raise £600 by running the 13.1 mile route on Tyneside. The Parkinson’s UK team is part of ‘Team Nurse’, who will be running to fund new essential specialist Parkinson’s nurse posts across the UK.

Parkinson’s nurses provide help and support to people living with Parkinson’s and their families. The charity estimates that 17,500 people living with the condition do not currently have access to a Parkinson’s nurse.

Paul Jackson-Clark, director of fundraising at Parkinson’s UK, said: “We are incredibly grateful to Steve for his support. I hope Steve’s story will inspire others to sign up for one of the other Bupa sponsored running events that take place during the year.”