The Great Run Company

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The Great Run Company logo The Great Run Company.jpg
The Great Run Company logo

The Great Run Company is a United Kingdom events company specialising in the development, design, organisation and rights management of mass participation and televised sporting events. They most notably organise the Great North Run, Great South Run and Great Manchester Run annually. They are formally known as Nova International.

The Great North Run is the largest half marathon in the world, taking place annually in North East England each September. Participants run between Newcastle upon Tyne and South Shields. The run was devised by former Olympic 10,000 m bronze medallist and BBC Sport commentator Brendan Foster.

Great South Run running race held in Portsmouth, United Kingdom

The Great South Run is an annual 10 mile (16.09 km) road running race which takes place in Portsmouth, United Kingdom providing an intermediate distance between the ten kilometre and the half marathon (21.097 km) runs. Launched in 1990, it is part of the Great Run series created by former British athlete Brendan Foster. It was originally held in Southampton, but the race moved to its current course after the first edition.

The Great Manchester Run is an annual run through Greater Manchester. It has consisted of a 10k run since it was established in 2003, and a half marathon since 2017. The 10k race is the largest of its type in Europe. Usually held in mid-May, it is the third-largest mass participation running event in the United Kingdom, behind the Great North Run and the London Marathon. It is part of the Great Run series of road races in the UK. It was formerly sponsored by Bupa (2003–2014) and Morrisons (2015).

The business is headed up by chief executive Mark Hollinshead, [1] while founder Brendan Foster is the company's chairman.

Brendan Foster Athletics competitor, long distance runner

Brendan Foster is a British former long-distance runner who founded the Great North Run. He won the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the 1976 Summer Olympics, and the gold medal in the 5,000 metres at the 1974 European Championships and the 10,000 metres at the 1978 Commonwealth Games.

History

The Great North Run was the first event in the Great Run stable, in 1981, and pre-dates Nova International and The Great Run Company by seven years.

Former European and Commonwealth champion Brendan Foster was inspired to organise an event in his native North-East England, [2] after taking part in the Round the Bays event in Auckland, New Zealand. [3] The first Great North Run, the original flagship Great Run, was staged in 1981 and has now grown into the world’s greatest half marathon and the UK’s biggest running event with 57,000 runners.

Auckland Metropolitan area in North Island, New Zealand

Auckland is a city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country, Auckland has an urban population of around 1,628,900. It is located in the Auckland Region—the area governed by Auckland Council—which includes outlying rural areas and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf, resulting in a total population of 1,695,900. Auckland is a diverse, multicultural and cosmopolitan city, home to the largest Polynesian population in the world. A Māori-language name for Auckland is Tāmaki or Tāmaki-makau-rau, meaning "Tāmaki with a hundred lovers", in reference to the desirability of its fertile land at the hub of waterways in all directions.

In 1988, Nova International Ltd was established to manage all Great Run assets as well as its own film department FilmNova and its sportswear brand View From.

From its flagship event, the company has grown to consist of a portfolio of events that now extend over multiple days and include not just mass participation events but family activity, with elite competition on the Great CityGames track and associated Great Swim and Great Cycle events.

In 2014 the Great North Run became the first event in the world to be officially recognised by the IAAF for achieving the milestone one millionth finish. [4] The Great North Run millionth celebration, as part of the Great North Run Cultural Programme was a defining moment for the whole programme of events as consumer research showed that over 3 million participants had taken part in Great Run events since the first Great North Run in 1981. [5]

The Great North Run Cultural Programme, now known as Great North Run Culture, is an annual series of artistic commissions which celebrate and respond to the Great North Run - the world's largest half-marathon - its history and route, its spirit and recollection, the thousands of journeys and stories of those who take part.

Using this research and working with M&C Saatchi, Nova positioned and started to market Great Run as the World’s Favourite Run. To further reinforce the success of Great Run and the focus on the consumer brand, Nova changed the company name in March 2015 from Nova International to The Great Run Company.

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Great Bristol Half Marathon

The Great Bristol Half Marathon is an annual road running event held on the streets of Bristol, UK. The route is at sea level and starts on Anchor Road outside At-Bristol. Participants make their way toward Hotwells before heading under the Clifton Suspension Bridge and along the Portway toward Sea Mills before returning the same way then navigating around Cumberland Basin then along Spike Island before crossing Prince Street Bridge, circling Queen Square then heading to Castle Park via St Mary Redcliffe and Temple Circus. The final mile and a half take place in the Old City and Bristol city centre before crossing the finish line back at Anchor Road. The runner's village is located at Millennium Square. The 2016 event took place on 25 September.

Great Run

Great Run is a series of road running events around the United Kingdom, which includes the Great North Run. Great Run is a part of The Great Run Company, which was launched by retired athlete Brendan Foster. The group specialises in road running events, from a 5k up to a marathon.

London 10,000 10km road race in London

The London 10,000 is an annual road running event over 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) which takes place in late May in London, United Kingdom. Established in 2008, the race goes through the roads of St. James's Park and finishes on the mall by Buckingham Palace. VitalityHealth took over sponsorship in 2016 from the original sponsor BUPA.

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Gemma Steel British long-distance runner

Gemma Steel is a British long-distance runner who competes in road running and cross country running competitions. She was the 2014 gold medallist at the European Cross Country Championships. She has represented Great Britain internationally in cross country, road and track events. She has won at three of the Great Run series events: the Great Ireland Run, Great Birmingham Run and Great Yorkshire Run. She has also won the Bristol Half Marathon and placed seventh at the 2012 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships.

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Great Scottish Run

The Great Scottish Run is a series of mass-participation road running events, held annually in the streets of Glasgow, Scotland in October. The event began as a full marathon in 1979, but later changed to a weekend of shorter events. The weekend now includes short events for children, a 10K roadrace, and a half marathon. The 2013 event, which was sponsored by the Bank of Scotland, featured over 30,000 competitors. It is the largest mass-participation sporting event in Scotland.

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Great North 10K

The Great North 10K, styled as the Simplyhealth Great North 10K for sponsorship purposes, is a 10K road run, which has been called "the North East's biggest 10K running event", with over 5,000 people taking part. It is part of the Great Run series and the number of participants is only outnumbered by the Great North Run. The race in its present format was first staged in Sunderland in 2009 but changed locations to Gateshead for the 2011 event. Prior to 2009, a 10K race had taken place at Roker along the coastline of Sunderland but the event was only open to female competitors; when it changed to permit male participants, it was re-styled as the Great North 10K. In 2013, the date was brought forward to become the official running event partner of the 2013 European Team Championships.

The Birmingham International Marathon was a long-distance running event held in Birmingham, UK. It formed part of the Great Run British Marathon Series. The first event was held on October 15, 2017, the same day as the existing Great Birmingham Run in the city centre. The event was cancelled the following year, with organisers blaming the city's ongoing roadworks.

The Great Stirling Run, styled as the Simplyhealth Great Stirling Run for sponsorship purposes and formerly known as the Stirling Scottish Marathon, is a long-distance running event held in Stirling, Scotland. The first event was held on May 21, 2017, with 2018's event taking place on April 29. From 2018, the event introduced a half marathon alongside the existing marathon.

References

  1. "Trinity Mirror COO Mark Hollinshead to join Great North Run organiser Nova International as CEO". The Drum.
  2. "History of the Great North Run". BBC. 28 September 2002.
  3. "From the Great North Run to Round the Bays - Athletics Weekly". Athletics Weekly. 30 March 2015.
  4. Administrator, nechronicle (7 September 2014). "Great North Run 2014: Millionth finisher crosses the line in South Shields". nechronicle.
  5. Company, The Great Run. "About | Mass Participation | Sports Events | The Great Run Company". www.thegreatruncompany.com.