Running from Ancient Greece to South Shields

The history of distance running from Ancient Greece to the Great North Run will be explored in a free public lecture at the University of Teesside next week. The lecture is open to everyone and will be delivered by Dr Chris Vallis, Medical Director of the Great North Run.

The talk will take place on Tuesday 21 March at 5pm in Room A2.021 on the Second Floor, Clarendon Building (entrance behind the Dickens Inn, off Southfield Road, Middlesbrough). Coffee will be served from 4.30pm in the First Floor, Clarendon Building.

The lecture concludes the University’s School of Social Sciences & Law’s Twilight Research Series, which started in January. It will also examine:

• the benefits of exercise compared with being a ‘couch potato’
• what makes good distance runners
• the physiological stresses of distance running
• some of the deaths in different sports.

In addition to his Medical Director role, Dr Vallis is an examiner for the Royal College of Anaesthetists and an experienced teacher of resuscitation techniques, which he has delivered all over the world.

Dr Vallis said: “The risks of distance running are very small if properly prepared, but a small risk is always going to be present, as in many other worthwhile endeavours. Even staying at home watching TV has its risks.”

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