Nova is looking for more expansion

Mar 2 2010 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

A TYNESIDE company which has built the North East's most iconic and internationally renowned sporting event has opened offices in Manchester and London as it looks to expand its global reach.

Nova International, founded by North East Olympic medallist Brendan Foster in 1981, is the company behind The BUPA Great North Run, an event which now attracts some 54,000 entrants, the UK’s largest mass participation running event.

The company has built on the success of the Great North Run by staging other events in the UK and internationally. It has organised similar runs across the UK, involving more than 100,000 participants. Abroad, Nova stages the Great Ireland Run; the Great Australian Run; and helped establish the Great Ethiopian Run as Africa’s biggest running event.

On the back of these events, it now has an annual turnover of more than £12m, with 52 employees.

Managing director David Newton says: “Our plans are centred on the identification and exploitation of new markets, both in the UK and internationally.

“We are looking at new markets and those outside of running and swimming. We will look at doing mass participation cycling. We will also build our television arm so we can start producing more programmes. We will also look at how we can monetise the website in terms of advertising, click-throughs and so on.”

The company has been supported in its growth by Business Link, which it has been working alongside since 2001.