HUNDREDS CHEERS ON RUNNERS IN CITY RACES
THOUSANDS OF ATHLETES POUNDED THE STREETS OF WEARSIDE AT THE WEEKEND
Crowds turned out in force to cheer on the runners in Sunderland City Centre.
The Siglion Sunderland City Half Marathon and 10K was held for the eighth time with a record number of more than 4,000 runners taking part.
Spectators, joined by Mayor of Sunderland, Coun Doris Mac Knight, lined the street sat Keel Square to cheer them on.
Winning the 10k for the first time was Andy Powell, 33, who runs with the Sunderland Harriers and was delighted with his time of 33 minutes and three seconds.
Andy, said: “It was on my bucket list to win an event in my home town and I’ve done that now.
“We got really good weather for it. It was a bit windy on the seafront, but other than that it was great.”
Thousands of runners from near and far made their way to Wearside to take part in the 2018 Run Sunderland Festival,including some of the leading club runner sin the region and hundreds of fun runners and participants were raising money for good causes.
The official event charity this year was St. Benedict’s Hospice.
The theme for this year’s event was# run with the tide, as the city builds up to hosting the Tall Ships Races in July.
Among the runners were a group of sail trainees who are preparing to join a crew on a tall ship and will be tack ling the 10K as part of their training.
The 2018 Run Sunderland Festival was organised by former Olympic athlete Steve Cram’s company Events of the North, in partnership with Sunderland City Council and Active Sunderland.
Steve Cram said: “We had a record number of participants who joined us to run with the tide.
“Well done to everyone who took part and as ever, huge thanks to Siglion, Sunderland City Council and our other sponsors, and to all of the wonderful volunteers who help make events like this possible.”