Still no decision on this year’s Great North Run
The team behind the world's biggest half marathon – The GreatNorthRun–haspledged to keep the public updated on whether or not the 2020 race will go ahead as planned.
This September marks the 40th Great North Run, attended by tens of thousands of runners and spectators each year.
But the coronavirus pandemic and associated lockdown measures have led to questionssurroundingwhetherornotthemuch-anticipated event, scheduled for Sunday, September 13, will take place.
Yesterday,organisersGreat Run issued a statement on socialmedia,reassuringthepublic that their questions about therunwerenotbeingignored.
In it, they said they wanted to take time to “get this right” as any decision about the race will impact charity partners –aswellashavinganeconomic affect on the North East region as a whole.
It continued: “We’re aware that the latest Government guidelines indicate that social distancing will remain part of our lives for quite some time, and this obviously impacts the form that mass participation events will be able to take.
“Unfortunately, it isn’t as simple as making a quick decision to postpone or cancel and we are working in close consultation with our medical, planning teams and all key stakeholders whilst following the latest advice from the UK Government.”
It said runners are at the heart of any decision the team will make, with their welfare and safety central to what will happen going forward.
“We’re aware that you may have travel and accommodation decisions to consider, as well as training and fundraising plans; as such we will endeavour to make a decision with our stakeholders about the staging of the event in good time.”