The Great North Run reaches its 45th edition on Sunday 13 September, and organisers have assembled an elite field that reflects the race’s continuing pull on the global half marathon circuit. Alex Mutiso and Sheila Chepkirui, who won last year’s men’s and women’s races, both return to defend their titles on the point-to-point route from Newcastle over the Tyne Bridge, through Gateshead and out to the seafront finish at South Shields. They lead more than 100 invited athletes drawn from the United States, Ethiopia, Kenya, Japan, South Africa and across Europe.
The men’s field is built around Mutiso, whose personal best of 57:59 puts him a clear tier above the rest of the entry list on paper. Behind him, American record-holder Casey Clinger and compatriot Zouhair Talbi provide the strongest transatlantic challenge, joined by 2025 European champion Iliass Aouani of Italy, Tokyo Marathon silver medallist Deresa Geleta of Ethiopia and Olympic silver medallist Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands. Ben Connor, Andy Butchart and Alfie Manthorpe head the British contingent. Martin Mathathi’s course record of 58:56 has stood since 2011, and Mutiso was measured about his chances of taking it down: the course is a demanding one, he noted, and both the conditions and his own shape would need to be close to perfect.
The women’s race carries a similar weight of expectation. Chepkirui, who has spoken about the Great North Run’s value as either a bridge from the summer track season or a sharpener for an autumn marathon, faces fellow Kenyans Viola Lagat and Brigid Kosgei, the latter a two-time winner on Tyneside and an Olympic silver medallist. Eilish McColgan carries the strongest home hopes of preventing an all-Kenyan podium, returning after the toe injury that forced her out of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. McColgan has described the race as the goal that structured her rebuild, and she is joined in the British women’s entry by Amy-Eloise Neale. Tirunesh Dibaba also features on an entry list that runs deep well beyond the podium contenders.
The wheelchair races bring back 2025 winners Sean Frame and Mel Woods, with David Weir and John Boy Smith adding championship pedigree to the field. The elite programme is staggered across the morning: wheelchair athletes go at 10.20am, elite women at 10.25am, visually impaired athletes at 10.27am, and the elite men and mass field at 10.50am. BBC1 carries live coverage from 10am to 2pm, and organisers expect more than 200,000 spectators along the 13.1-mile route.
Sir Brendan Foster, who founded the event and now serves as president of The Great Run Company, framed the 45th edition as a continuation rather than a milestone, pointing to the records broken and champions made on the road to South Shields over four and a half decades. What is beyond dispute is scale: with 63,000 runners expected, this will be the largest Great North Run staged, and it anchors a weekend festival that opens with the Great North Run 5K on Friday 11 September and continues with the 40th Great North Junior and Mini events on the Saturday.