Great North Run

Great North Run
DateSeptember annually (occasionally October)
LocationNewcastle upon Tyne to South Shields, England, UK
Event typeRoad
DistanceHalf marathon
Primary sponsorAJ Bell
Established1981
Course recordsMen:
Kenya Martin Mathathi 58:56
Women:
Kenya Brigid Kosgei 1:04:28
Official siteGreat North Run

The Great North Run (branded the AJ Bell Great North Run for sponsorship purposes) is the largest half marathon in the world, taking place annually in North East England each September.[1] Participants run between Newcastle upon Tyne and South Shields. The run was devised by former Olympic 10,000 m bronze medallist and BBC Sport commentator Brendan Foster.

The first Great North Run was staged on 28 June 1981, when 12,000 runners participated. By 2011, the number of participants had risen to 54,000. For the first year it was advertised as a local fun run; nearly thirty years on it has become one of the biggest running events in the world, and the biggest in the UK. Only the Great Manchester Run and London Marathon come close to attracting similar numbers of athletes each year.

The 1992 edition of the race incorporated the 1st IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. The event also has junior and mini races attached with these being run the Saturday before the main race on the Newcastle Quayside. Martin Mathathi holds the current men's course record with his run of 58:56 in 2011. In 2019, Brigid Kosgei's women's course record of 64:28[2] bettered the previous mark by over a minute and was also the fastest ever half marathon by a woman; however, the course was not eligible for records. That same year, Mo Farah won a record sixth consecutive men's Great North Run.[3]

  1. ^ "Largest half marathon". Guinness World Records.
  2. ^ "Bridged Kosgei runs the fastest". twitter.com. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  3. ^ "BBC Sport on Twitter". 8 September 2019. Retrieved 8 September 2019.