Great North Run a top promotion for region

Oct 24 2008 by Nicholas Craig, The Journal

THE best possible cure for jetlag, I can confirm, is the Great North Run. Not that I entered. The atmosphere created by 52,000 runners, relatives, friends, celebrities and an ex-Prime Minister is extraordinarily infectious. It is impossible not to be affected, even from some distance.

I had no idea it was the world’s most popular half marathon. It is undeniably an extraordinary sporting spectacle, with such an impact it can energise half-asleep people half-watching the television.

The sight of all those beaming runners radiating megawatts of warmth on a bright but chilly Sunday morning brought me bouncing back to life following the long return journey from Beijing.

Each year the event grows, causing headaches for transport chiefs and huge pleasure for participants and spectators.

It is a collection of intensely personal triumphs multiplied many thousands of times. Combine the emotion of achieving long-term challenges with the unique ability of North Easterners to celebrate group events and you have the best half marathon ever.

I can remember the first, when 12,000 people in 1981 took part in what they said was a fun run. Even then the instant popularity of the Great North Run was a delightful surprise.

There were more people and there was much more excitement than we thought possible – and that was long before national terrestrial TV took any notice.

The Run has spawned a host of other annual athletic events, all hallmarked with the same sense of goodwill and pleasure.

The logistics of transporting relatives and friends from Newcastle to South Shields and back again must be a nightmare for Metro and bus operators.

Without the budget for a Crossrail there is no chance the region will ever be able to cope smoothly with such a massive influx coming and going within a few hours.

The seasoned spectators know the drill, however, and approach it like a military exercise, triumphantly achieving their targets with the same verve and energy as the runners.

The importance of the Great North Run lasts far longer than the event itself. The hours of mass media coverage are an excellent promotion for the region.

For one morning 52,000 individuals from all parts of the country and further afield become a single community, bringing out the best in each other and the region as a result.

From beginning to end it provides a showcase of Tyneside’s spectacular landscape and architecture, this year bathed in sunshine. It positively affirms the “passionate people, passionate places” phrase, and makes magnificent sense of it.

Nicholas Craig is a partner at Watson Burton law firm