Mountain man Mark sets off!

Blyth Spartans press officer Mark Carruthers is sure to have taken some inspiration from Everest's conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary earlier today [Friday] when he set off on a charity challenge to climb the UK's three highest mountains.

While the world celebrated the 60th anniversary this week of the New Zealander and his Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay famously scaling the world's highest mountain for the first time, Carruthers, pictured, and his friend Mark Rutter are now battling a daunting challenge of their own in aid of Parkinson's UK.

After Friday's challenge of climbing Scotland's Ben Nevis, England's highest peak, Scafell Pike, is in their sights on Saturday before they finish the 'Three Peaks Challenge' on Sunday with an attempt on Mount Snowdon in Wales.

The Evo-Stik Northern Premier League club's press man had originally hoped to complete his mountaineering hat-trick back in March but was forced to postpone for safety reasons with snow and ice still blanketing much of the country. Like Sir Edmund at the top of Everest on May 29, 1953, he's also planning a flag planting ceremony on each of the summits with the proud unfurling of a Spartans pennant.

The pair have received backing from numerous sources including his Premier Division club, Radio Northumberland, Football Club Magazine and his employer npower, who are matching his fundraising up to the first £1,000.

Spartans General Manager Ian Evans said the whole club was backing their press officer to successfully complete the gruelling climbs and raise as much money as possible for the charity. "Everyone at the Spartans is right behind Mark and we wish him all the best," said Evans.

Carruthers, who'll be keeping fans up-to-date on his Twitter account - @markyc1982 - over the weekend, said: "It's great knowing that Mark is going to be right there alongside me. There'll certainly be a lot of football chat and banter over the weekend. We've been through a lot during the preparation for the challenge and I'm sure we will look back on this with some pride when we finish."

There is a serious purpose, however, behind Carruthers' efforts which have already seen him more than double his initial sponsorship target. "I will be walking in memory of my grandfather who passed away twenty years ago and suffered from Parkinsons Disease for as long as I can remember so that's why the money will go to Parkinsons UK," explained Carruthers.

He added: "It's going to be an emotional weekend with the memory of my grandad driving me on so hopefully I can do him and my family proud. The target was to raise £1,000 but we are now over £2,000, which is amazing."

To donate via the JustGiving page Carruthers has set up visit: www.justgiving.com/user/33298276.

Alternatively, donations can be made via text message by texting 70070 with the code MPUK82 followed by a space and your amount in pounds. For example, to donate £5 you would text MPUK82 5.