Great North Run
The Bupa Great North Run is the premier event in the Great Run series and is firmly established as the world’s most popular half-marathon.
The run was devised by former Olympic 10,000m bronze medallist and BBC sports commentator Brendan Foster after he had run the Round the Bays race in New Zealand in 1979.
The very first Great North Run, advertised at the time as a local fun run, took place on June 28, 1981 and attracted some 12,000 runners. The elite race was won in a time of 1hour 3min 23sec by North East running legend Mike McLeod, who went on to win a silver medal in the 10,000m at the 1984 Olympics.
The Run continued to attract the best athletes in the world but it wasn’t until 2002 that Kenya’s Paul Kosgei broke the one hour barrier, coming home in 59min 58sec.
A separate women’s race was added in 2003 and won by Britain’s Paula Radcliffe, whose time of 1hour 5min 40sec remains the fastest by over two minutes, while men’s and women’s wheelchair events were introduced in 2005.
But the Great North Run has become a hugely popular event for ordinary people. An incredible 47,000 were taking part by 2003 while the 2008 event attracted a record field of 52,000. Runners come from all over the world to experience this iconic event.
In recent years, several other running events have been added, including the Great North Mile and The Tunnel 2K race for wheelchair athletes.
