BUT STILL IN THE RUNNING
Great North Run is off due to coronavirus Brendan Foster hopes virtual run can be held And charities badly need your help
BRENDAN Foster has appealed to people to keep running following the cancellation of the world’s biggest half-marathon. The founder of the Great North Run, which was officially called off yesterday, urged disappointed fans to carry on with their training as he and fellow organisers seek ways to salvage something of the event - in a virtual form.
The Olympian is keen to mark the day of what would have been the 40th GNR bringing tens of thousands of people to Newcastle - with some kind of virtual mass participation event which might still benefit charities which otherwise will miss out on around £25m of fund-raising.
He said: “Dont stop the running - please don’t stop. “We are looking - on the basis we cannot invite people to Newcastle this year because of social distancing rules - at some way of taking the event to them. “Some kind of virtual event and we are talking to lots of people and tech companies.”
The cancellation of September’s Newcastle to South Shields run was reluctantly made by the Great North Company organisers who had looked into every possibility of hosting what was set to be the biggest event to date. Foster said they have been following the Government’s and scientists’ daily guidance and the current two-metre social distancing rule was the big obstacle.
He added: “Following social distancing, the queue from Newcastle would go up past Berwick - 60,000 people standing two metres apart.
“That is one thing. Another is it would need 500 NHS staff volunteers to look after people and that is not right.
“It would not be fair for us to impose any further on the NHS.”
Foster said 2021 now will be the year the Great North Run celebrates its 40th birthday event.
In the meantime, he has been inspired by the success of a recent virtual running event - its Great North Run solo challenge which raised money for NHS charities - and hopes to develop the idea into bringing the Great North Run participants together in a similar way to mark what would have been the big day on September 13.
Foster said: “Because the runners are missing out on running the Great North Run and those people raise loads of money for charities which are going to be missing out on £22m, let’s see if we can find some solution and take the Great North Run to them.
“We don’t want the day - September 13 - to be just the day the Great North Run did not happen. We want to recognise the day.”
The Great North Run Solo worked by inviting people to pick from a choice of distance targets and complete them over the month of May to raise money to help NHS charities fight the Covid-19 crisis.
Foster added: “Since lockdown all our events have been cancelled so we set up the programme of running challenges and it had a staggering uptake with thousands of people running for the NHS and raising loads of money and they are all getting a medal.”
The medals have started being delivered this week and 72-year-old Foster a former Olympic bronze medallist and a gold medal winner at the European Championships and Commonwealth Games - received one himself.
He said: “I did 280 kilometres - 10 kilometres a day for a month - and I have my medal, the first medal I have won for 20 years!”
The Great North Company will be working out possibilities over the next two weeks of how to mark the day.
Foster went on: “We are not lying down. The 40th was going to be the biggest ever mass-participation event in the country.
“While we are very sad it is not happening, when you put it into perspective - looking at the pain and anguish of people who have had this disease and the devastation of families of those who have died - our pain and disappointment pales into insignificance.
“Hopefully people who have entered this year will be allowed to roll their entry over.”
With 2021’s event now set to be extraspecial and given nobody quite knows how mass-participation affrairs will work by then, Foster said: “We can accept the challenge of making it better - time will tell if it will be bigger.”
The former BBC sports commentator said if there is one positive thing about lockdown it is the clear message which has emerged from the Governemnt on the importance of daily exercise which has seen more people out pounding the streets.
He said: “Don’t stop the running; please don’t stop. Keep training.”
The new date for the 40th Great North Run is Sunday, September 12, 2021 and those who had secured a place this year can choose to either swap it to that date or ask for a refund for their entry fee.
The Junior and Mini Great North Run and the Great North 5k have also been cancelled.