Alan Craft

Sir Alan Craft, born in Newcastle, has two life long ambitions: to climb Everest and be an Olympic Champion. The Olympic Torch Relay seems a reasonable compromise! He has completed 110 half marathons and 33 marathons and is a member of the Great North Run "Done Them All' club. In 1978 he established the North of England Children's Cancer Research Fund which together with the Annual Children's Cancer Run has raised almost £10m Alan was knighted for services to medicine, which included establishing Newcastle as a major European Children's Cancer Centres. He has been president of both the UK and the international children's cancer societies, President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and Chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. Currently he is President of the Association for Children's Palliative Care and Children's Hospices UK, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Scout Association, and Vice President of Northumberland Scouts.