<Tr> <Th> Official site </Th> <Td> www.greatrun.org </Td> </Tr> <P> The Great North Run (branded the Simplyhealth Great North Run for sponsorship purposes) 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 . </P> <P> The first Great North Run was staged on 28 June 1981, when 12,000 runners participated . By 2011, the number of participants had risen to 54,000 . For the first year it was advertised as a local fun run; nearly thirty years on it has become one of the biggest running events in the world, and the biggest in the UK . Only the Great Manchester Run and London Marathon come close to attracting similar numbers of athletes each year . </P> <P> The 1992 edition of the race incorporated the 1st IAAF World Half Marathon Championships . Martin Mathathi holds the current men's course record with his run of 58: 56 minutes in 2011 . Mary Jepkosgei Keitany's women's course record of 65: 39 minutes, was set in 2014 . In 2017, Mo Farah became the first person to win the event four times consecutively . </P>

Postcode for the start of the great north run