Charities given free places for this year’s pier run event

The 19th Pier to Pier Race, organised by Sunderland’s largest running club, Sunderland Strollers, will take place on Sunday, May 14 this year.

The run follows the coastline from South Shields Pier to Roker Pier in Sunderland, a distance of approximately seven miles.

At various points on the route the competitors have free choice over their route providing they do not run on, or adjacent to, the main road.

With both the start and finish on the beach the exact date of the race each year is governed by the tides.

One of the favourite events of North East runners, and for many from further afield, the event has grown in popularity over the years with a record 1,138 finishers last year in last year’s run.

Race director, Harry Harrison said: “Entries have gone exceptionally well, particularly given the close proximity of the Sunderland Running Festival.

“We look like we could be sold out before race day, which has never happened before”.

This year, the race has given 10 charities a total of five free places each for them to raise as much money as they can.

Charity organiser Michelle Houghton said: “The Strollers do a huge amount for charity every year, raising over £20,000 in 2016 for a wide variety of local and national groups. We thought it was just a great opportunity to engage with different groups and we’re delighted with the uptake of places”.

Sunderland Strollers Running Club has been in existence for almost 35 years, starting with just a handful of social runners and growing to more than 300 active members competing in races across the UK and worldwide covering distances of 5K to 100+ miles.

The club’s bosses say it is proud of its sociable reputation and also the amount of time it puts into encouraging non-runners to take up the sport, with their most recent Beginners Group attracting more than 150 participants.