Marathon man Mark heads for shopping mall

Mr Cooper's ultra-endurance run of 1,300 miles, the equivalent of 50 marathons, will begin in the Netherlands on 1 May and finish in Spain 56 days later.

In recent weeks, he has received messages of good luck from some of the world's greatest endurance sportspeople.

Adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Chris Bonington, who has scaled Mount Everest four times, and Terry Hitchcock, who ran 75 marathons in 75 days across America, have all shown their support.

Mr Cooper is hoping to raise 25,000 for Headway Group, a charity for people with head injuries. He is running in memory of his mother, Sheila, who died in 1997 from a brain haemorrhage.

He will run the marathon at Cameron Toll on a treadmill, starting at midday.