Great North Run

Founded in 1981 by Olympic bronze medallist Brendan Foster, the Great North Run is the world's largest half marathon and one of the most iconic mass-participation races on the planet. The point-to-point course starts in Newcastle upon Tyne, sends around 60,000 runners across the iconic Tyne Bridge beneath the traditional Red Arrows flypast, continues through Gateshead and South Tyneside, and finishes on the seafront at South Shields. First run in 1981 with 12,264 finishers, the race has grown into a Guinness World Record-holding spectacle for the largest half marathon field and has produced more than a million finishers across its history, drawn by elite fields (Mo Farah is a multiple champion), huge crowd support along the entire route, and a charity-fundraising culture that makes it one of the UK's biggest single-day fundraising events.