MY name is Alistair Sutcliffe, and I am a General Practitioner in
Whitby, North Yorkshire. I have 4 loves in my life- my wife Clare,
mountaineering, and marathon running and, of course, Leeds United.

My love affair with Leeds started in 1970, when I was 6 years old. I
asked my father who he supported, and, having been born in Headingly,
he immediately replied “Leeds”. We lived in Essex at the time, so for
12 years, every birthday and Christmas, my father loyally drove me up
the M1, as all I ever wanted for a present was a ticket to see my
beloved Leeds. My wife and I finally settled in Whitby, having lived
all over Great Britain, which meant that I could finally treat myself
to a season ticket, and I’ve had one every year since.

And so to my second love-mountaineering. I’ve been climbing for many
years, and finally, in 2007, completed my lifelong ambition- to
successfully summit the highest mountain on each of the seven
continents, including Mount Everest in 2006. I completed this all at
the first attempt, which is a world record. Following this, in a spare
month from work in February 2009, I took a motorcycle from Whitby to
Timbuktu and back- 13,200 miles in 26 days across Africa and the
Sahara. The combination of the climbing and marathon running- of which
I have now completed 50 full marathons and 234 half marathons- have
raised almost £100,000 for our local terminal care hospice, St.
Catherine’s Hospice in Scarborough.

Then, in February 2010, came my hardest climb. I suffered a near-fatal
massive brain haemorrhage. The consultants at Hull advised my wife to
prepare for the worst, as I would likely not survive. Miraculously I
did survive; it turns out due to my love of climbing, as the high
altitude had opened up a second circulation in my brain, which saved my
life. This type of circulation has only ever been seen in one other
person.

It was during my recovery, that I wrote my book, “The Hardest Climb”,
detailing my climbs, the motorcycle trip to Timbuktu, and the brain
haemorrhage. It is notoriously difficult to find a publisher who
believes in the work of a first-time author, but I had 3 publishers
keen to publish the work, all offering me contracts. I chose Bluemoose
Books, a great independent company that really care about the books
that they produce, and they are, of course, in Yorkshire. Sir Chris
Bonington kindly wrote the Foreword, and my beloved Leeds United
feature as the first picture- with me, dressed in my Leeds kit, aged 7
and holding my pet chicken Lazarus.

The book goes on public sale on May 1st this year, but is now available
to pre-order though www.Bluemoosebooks.com at a good discount. As
always, the majority of any royalties that come to me shall be passed
on to St. Catherine’s Hospice.

Fortunately, my amazing recovery has meant that I am, once again, back
in the West Stand in my seat, thoroughly enjoying watching Leeds at all
their home games and some of their away ones when I can. I have
returned to work as a General Practitioner, and I am doing the London
marathon in April.

If anybody interested please e-mail and my
email is mcnaught@aol.com.

Many thanks,

Alistair Sutcliffe.