We thought this would never happen again
Q
THE GREAT NORTH RUN RETURNS TOMORROW. IS THIS A DAY YOU FEARED YOU WOULD NOT SEE?
A
We’ve been getting ready for this for two years and there were definitely times we thought it wasn’t going to happen because while other sports can operate without crowds, our participants – more than 50,000 of them – are also a crowd. We were like, ‘My God, how are we going to solve this?’At times we thought, ‘Bloody hell, this is never going to happen.’ Q WHAT THEN MADE IT POSSIBLE?
A
We owe everything to those who developed the vaccine and the
NHS who rolled it out. They are the heroes of this year’s race, those who broke the chain between contracting the disease and becoming seriously ill. We’re so grateful to our fantastic scientists. When the 2020 GNR was cancelled I spoke to a former boss of the NHS who said getting a vaccine in normal times would take 10 years. He could not see how a mass event like the GNR could happen any time soon, certainly not before 2022. And if it hadn’t happened this year or next it might never have happened again. Q
SIR MO FARAH HAS WON THE PAST SIX TITLES BUT MISSES THIS YEAR THROUGH INJURY. WHO SHOULD WE LOOK OUT FOR?
A
For me, the best story is Eilish McColgan, above, trying to win the women’s race in her first half marathon. Her mum Liz won the race in 1992, 95 and 96. We’ve not had a mother-daughter glory story. Eilish has the form that suggests she can emulate Liz. She recently broke Paula Radcliffe’s 17-year-old British record for 5,000 metres.
Q
TEAM GB FAILED TO WIN OLYMPIC GOLD IN ATHLETICS IN TOKYO FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1996. HOW MUCH OF A CONCERN IS THAT?
A
The circumstances were clearly difficult this year but the performance of the GB team
overall was disappointing. There were some great performances in the middle distances and Holly Bradshaw finally getting a global medal in pole vault was wonderful. But the fact is Britain finished 24th in the athletics medal table.
Q WHICH PERFORMANCES MOST EXCITED YOU?
A
I was jumping up and down when Laura Muir took silver in the 1500 metres. She had been almost thinking she would never win a major medal. Even coming off the final bend she feared she would be run out of it. Thank God she wasn’t because Laura is a 100 percent runner, a runner’s runner.
Almost as thrilling was watching the emergence of Keely Hodgkinson in the women’s 800m. What a year for her. European Indoor gold, Olympic silver and then, this week, Diamond League champion. Keely is 19. She is a serious talent.
Add in Josh Kerr, who ran brilliantly to take bronze behind Jakob Ingebrigtsen and world champion Timothy Cheruiyot in the fastest ever Olympic men’s 1500m, and it is clear we are back to having a crop of world-class middle-distance athletes.
Q
SUM UP HOW YOU WILL FEEL WHEN THE GREAT NORTH RUN STARTS?
A
Emotional. There hasn’t been a major participation event in the country since the 2019 Great North Run so to see the return of ordinary people doing extraordinary things should give the whole country a boost that we are on the way back to normality.