Running the Great North Run
If you’re one of the lucky ones to get into the Great North Run half marathon, here’s what you can expect on Race Day!
There’s a special place in my heart for the Great North Run as it’s my ‘local race’. The route goes past my childhood home in Marsden and I always fondly remember the amazing buzz about town as Race Day drew nearer. If you’re one of the 60,000 competitors taking part in what’s billed as the ‘world’s biggest half marathon’ here’s what you can expect.
Race Orientation
You can split the Great North Run into 7 sections, and I’ll cover them off one-by-one:
- Start Pens
- Newcastle
- Gateshead
- Whitemare Pool
- John Reid Road
- The Nook to Marsden
- Coast Road
The course is point-to-point, starting in Newcastle and finishing on the coast in South Shields.
The course is undulating with some fairly leg-sapping climbs in there. You’ll clock about 430ft (~130m) of elevation throughout the course, but be careful with the first two miles, which are net downhill — you can easily blow your legs before you’ve even crossed the Tyne Bridge!
But before I go into the race detail, you’ve got to make it to the start line.
Getting to the Start
The race starts round the back of Newcastle on the Central Motorway near the Town Moor, but due to road closures on Race Day and the sheer number of people heading that way, you’ll want to plan your trip to the start line carefully.
The Metro is an obvious choice for getting to the start line from all over the region but that’s what the majority of the 60k competitors also think. The start line is a 10–15 minute walk from Haymarket Metro Station, however getting on a Metro in the first place can be incredibly difficult.
I’ve heard countless stories of people missing the start of the race as they simply couldn’t get on a Metro. Unless you’re planning to jump on a Metro at South Shields or way out in Sunderland or North Tyneside, don’t count on being able to squeeze on one at a later stop. And even if you do choose to take a Metro from further out, you’ll likely need to wait for several Metros to leave before you can get on one.
Another option — and one I’ve used several times with great success — is to make your way down to the finish line in South Shields and take one of the chartered buses up to Haymarket from Bents Park Road.
Buses start leaving from around 07:30 on Race Day and for £3.50 they sweep you stress-free to Haymarket so you can head to the start line and start soaking up the atmosphere.
If you do decide to drive (or more likely, ‘be driven’), your best bet is to get dropped off at Haymarket, stopping quickly to jump out as there are no designated stopping spaces.
Start Pens
You’ll be assigned a wave for your start pen and the marshals are pretty hot on making sure you only enter the right pen. If you’d like to run with a friend and are in different start waves, you can head backwards to join a different wave but you can’t move forwards.
Before you get to the start pens there is an event village on the Town Moor with places to eat, drink and most importantly, to pee. Queues for the toilets can run to half an hour easy, so make sure you arrive in plenty of time.
Thankfully there are also volunteers handing out useful goodies, such as small bottles of water and (would you believe it!) suntan lotion. Every time I’ve done the Great North Run I’ve come back home with tan lines, so don’t let the location and time of year fool you — you can easily get burned if you don’t lotion up!
The start pens are split into two, with the central reservation of the Central Motorway separating them. I’ve been in both the right- and the left-hand side pens and I’d say if you have the choice, go left. Reason being you run down under the Central Motorway instead of up and over it, so you’ve got an extra downhill section, and if it’s hot (and believe me, for some reason we always have Mediterranean-style weather on GNR Day!) you’ll get half a mile or so of blessed shade.
A local DJ will keep you entertained with booming music while you wait for the gun, and when the Geordieland anthem ‘Local Hero’ starts to play you know it’s nearly time!
Newcastle
As you start the Great North Run at the Town Moor, you actually cover almost 2 miles before you get to the iconic Tyne Bridge, which is where you’ll have your first opportunity to merge with the other lane of runners.
The support as you set off is terrific, with thousands of people lining the bridges and sides of the motorway. You’ll go through a couple of short tunnels as you near the Tyne Bridge and will be subject to the deafening roars of “Oggy, oggy OGGY! Oi! Oi! OI!” as your fellow runners pass through. Apparently originally a scout chant, ‘Oggy’ has taken on a life of its own at the Great North Run and as you run through the enclosed tunnels it’s a great place to let the sound reverberate around you and gee you up for the next part of the course.
Gateshead
As you cross the Tyne Bridge do take a few seconds to look left and soak up the spectacular view. You’ve got the Millennium Bridge, Swing Bridge, Quayside, Baltic and The Sage all just a few hundred metres away, and if you’re extremely lucky you’ll also experience a Red Arrows fly-by.
The course inclines a little as you pass into Gateshead, and then you’re on the Felling By-pass, another dual-carriageway section but one where you’re free to switch sides at regular intervals.
If the sun’s made an appearance it can start to get a little hot at this point so I tend to hang right as you can grab some dappled shade to help keep cool.
This thronging stretch of the course takes you past Gateshead Stadium and the first refreshment stations, which are then dotted every couple of miles or so for the rest of the race.
It’s almost a 2-mile stretch along the Felling By-pass towards Heworth roundabout where there’s a long and rather demanding incline. Don’t try to attack this part too hard as it can really sap your energy, so if you need to slow your pace for a mile or so to get you through it you’ll thank yourself later.
Whitemare Pool
After another 2 or so miles past Heworth you’ll hit Whitemare Pool, roughly your halfway point in the race. Here the course narrows to only one carriageway as the right-hand side tapers into the left and you head down the exit sliproad to Whitemare Pool roundabout and take a sharp left on to Leam Lane towards South Shields.
There’s usually a sizeable medical presence around Whitemare Pool as well as refreshment stations and toilets, so if you are starting to feel tied or sore, this is a good point to stop and get some attention, even if it’s just another dollop of Vaseline to lubricate your chafes.
If you’ve got a nice day for the race, Leam Lane is where the sun can really start to have an impact as there’s no shade anymore and you’ll have the sun on your back for 2.5 miles until you hit the John Reid Road. There have been shower stations along this part of the route in recent years, so if you need a quick cool down you can dodge into one of them for a cold water spray.
John Reid Road
As you get to the end of Leam Lane, you turn right at the roundabout to join the John Reid Road, an undulating 2-mile section of road that takes you past some amazing music and crowds.
While the Great North Run has plenty of official refreshment stations, the crowds of people along the way do their best to also make sure you’re well fueled. You can’t run 100m without someone offering you oranges, Jelly Babies, juice and even cups of beer!
There’s usually another shower station along the John Reid Road as you near South Shields, and this is the last portion of the race run on a dual-carriageway. After you pass the roundabout at the end of The Nook, it’s all single-lane roads to the finish!
The Nook to Marsden
The Nook is a short half-mile section along Prince Edward Road but worth calling out for two reasons.
Firstly, you’ll start a progressive incline towards Marsden and with 10 miles done this is where a lot of people start to wane. And secondly, if you thought the crowds so far had been great, you ain’t seen nothing yet!
Both sides of the narrow street are packed with supporters cheering you on and it’s exactly what you need as your legs start to feel heavy. The support gets stronger as you exit The Nook and that incline towards Marsden starts to bite even more. That last few hundred metres towards the top of Marsden Bank can really hurt, but as the Marsden Inn comes into sight the cheers of the crowds drown out any fatigue.
When you go over the roundabout at Marsden two things will hit you in quick succession. Firstly, the view, a spectacular vista of the North Sea framed by the sky above and lush greenery of The Leas below. But don’t dwell too long on the eye-candy as you also hit a rather unexpected obstacle — Marsden Lane.
While many races place their sneaky hill right near the end of the course, the Great North Run twist on this is that the Marsden Lane hill is downward sloping… and you don’t need to run back up!
Marsden Lane may only be 100m or so long but when you’re legs are tired and you’ve been on a steady incline for several miles, hitting such a steep -7.7% downhill bank can be a real shock to the system. I’d strongly recommend you avoid the urge to take this at pace as every year there’s a good number of people who collapse here by trying to go too fast — their legs simply give way. There’s also a very sharp left turn at the bottom of the bank on to the Coast Road, so you’ll want to keep that in mind as well.
Coast Road
The final stretch, the Coast Road, is also the narrowest part of the course and is absolutely packed with spectators along both sides. You’ve got at least another mile to go but thankfully this part of the course is flat so you can concentrate on just putting one foot in front of the other… and watching out for others who are slowing their pace.
The finish line tends to change positions every few years and has been on the Coast Road (brilliant, because you can see it coming), a couple of hundred metres off to the right on the grassy Leas (not so great as you can’t see the finish line until late and the change of terrain isn’t ideal) and both (elites finish on the Coast Road, the rest of us finish on The Leas).
All I’d say is make sure to hold your powder dry for a final sprint finish until you’re absolutely sure you’re on top of the finish line!
You’ve Done It!
And that’s it, you’ve completed the world’s biggest half marathon!
Congratulations!
All there is to do now is pick-up your medal, goodie bag and t-shirt and meet up with family and friends for a well deserved sit down.
One thing to bear in mind however, the finish funnel to the Great North Run is long!
It’s easily another half a mile from finish line to race exit as you pick up all your swag and stop for photos. The exit is near Gypsies Green, and while there are suggested meeting points arranged by letter, it’s probably not the best place to meet up as there’re so many people.
One of the easier meet ups I’ve had is waking another few hundred meters to the New Crown Hotel, a large pub on a roundabout where the Coast Road meets Bents Park Road (where you may have caught your bus to Newcastle a few hours earlier). Which also doubles nicely as somewhere to grab a celebratory refreshment :)
If you’ve enjoyed this review of running the Great North Run, check out my other articles on Running the New York Marathon, Running the Berlin Marathon and Running the Boston Marathon.
