On Sunday 7th July the streets of Newcastle came alive with DJs, singers and steel bands as the Great North Run 10k took place. The event was a sell out with over 4,500 runners taking part.
The race started on the famous Great North Run start line on the central motorway and followed the first 3km of the GNR course. Once the runners had crossed the iconic Tyne Bridge for the first time they soon turned around and crossed the bridge again before running a weaving course around Newcastle city centre taking in a number of the city famous landmarks including Grey’s Monument, Laing Art Gallery, Haymarket and more before finishing on Town Moor. It was the second running of the new course with those first 3km being the downhill sectioned followed by the next 7km being the return up hill.
There was only one member of Grantham Running Club, Stuart Baty, made the long trip up north and although really enjoyed the race was a little disappointed with his time of 00:50:17.
He reported that “It was a very testing course, the organisation was fantastic the support was amazing but unfortunately just missed my target time of sub 50 mins, with a lack of race fitness and the undulations made it very difficult, but I will be back next year.”
The men’s race was won by John Bell from Inverclyde Athletic Club in a time of 00:30:52 and the women’s race was won by Gemma Steel from Charnwood AC in a time of 00:34:23.