A FATHER-of-three will complete a remarkable double this weekend – competing in the Great North Run before and after a major heart operation.

Dean Fielding, 43, was born with a leaky heart valve, but that didn’t stop him finishing the half marathon in just under two hours many years ago.

Last September, he had an aorta root and value replacement surgery on his heart that put him in bed for three weeks. It was four months before he could start running again.

But now Mr Fielding, from Crayke, near Easingwold, is ready to line up with 54,000 other runners in Newcastle on Sunday to raise £1,000 for the British Heart Foundation.

“I was fit and healthy right up until the operation,” he said.

“This is my opportunity to say thank you to all who have supported me through my operation and recovery, and also a chance for me to prove to myself that despite the traumas of surgery I can still be fit and healthy. Clearly after the operation, it took me a while to recuperate and I had a lot of support from the British Heart Foundation and the cardiac rehabilitation unit in York.”

His doctor has given him the all-clear to compete. Mr Fielding, who works in property services in York, has been in training for months, gradually building up the number of miles he runs around his home village.

Mr Fielding said he was confident of finishing the course, but doubts if he will rival the two hours he did many years ago when he was much younger.

He never had any symptoms from his leaky valve and for years played football and did sport on a regular basis.

The operation was carried out because doctors feared it could threaten his life in the future.