The Great North Run (GNR) returns to Tyneside this weekend, with 63,000 runners taking part in the world’s biggest half marathon on Sunday.
England star and Newcastle captain Dan Burn will ring the starter’s bell, with famous faces including football personality Chris Kamara and fitness coach Joe Wicks among those taking on the challenge.
Advertisement
The 13.1-mile (21km) event sees runners and wheelchair users race through Gateshead and South Tyneside before finishing in South Shields, with hundreds of thousands of people expected to line the route.
The elite men’s, women’s and wheelchair athlete races will set off first from about 10:25 BST, before the masses take to the same streets.
This year’s event will be broadcast live on BBC One.
Several planned road closures are in place across the weekend, including the A167 and A194.
Parts of the A184 in Gateshead are also blocked and diversions put in place due to a burst water main causing flooding at the roundabout near the A189 Redheugh Bridge.
Saturday’s Mini and Junior events on Newcastle’s Quayside saw 13,000 young people take on courses ranging from 50m (164ft) to 4km (2.5 miles).
Advertisement
Gladiators Alex Gray (Apollo), Emily Steel (Dynamite) and Matty Campbell (Bionic) rang Saturday’s starters’ bell alongside GNR mascot Tyney the Tortoise.
According to organisers, this year’s Mini and Junior events were the biggest in its 40-year history.
They gave youngsters “the chance to experience their own Great North Run moment – creating memories, soaking up the atmosphere and, for many, getting a taste of what the main event feels like”, they added.
Sunday’s half marathon is in its 45th year and starts on Newcastle’s Central Motorway and finishes on The Leas in South Shields.
Advertisement
The Red Arrows flypast over the city is scheduled for 10:50.
About £25m is raised for charity each year and the total number of finishers to date is 1.4 million, organisers say.
The 2026 medal was designed by local artist Alex Mulholland – known as Mul – and features the Tyne Bridge.
“The design celebrates the stories behind each runner, and the incredible causes that inspire so many people to take on the event,” he said.
Last year, the 2024 New York Marathon champion Sheila Chepkirui won the women’s elite race, while Alex Mutiso won the men’s competition.
Sean Frame won the men’s wheelchair race in 49:24 and Mel Nicholls won the women’s contest in 1:05:24.
Advertisement
Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram and listen to Radio Newcastle on BBC Sounds.
