33 glorious photos as Great North Run 2026 has sundrenched start in Newcastle

There really is nothing like Great North Run day in Newcastle and it took no time at all on Sunday morning for a fantastic atmosphere to start building as an estimated 63,000 made their way to the start line of the famous race. And we were right there with them to get some great shots of them lining up, including a few famous faces!

Ever since the very first Great North Run back in 1981, it has become an event that people right across the North East and further afield looki forward to every sngle year and this year was no different, with plenty of runners already getting their medals for doing Friday's Great North 5K and the Junior and Mini Runs on Saturday.

And on Sunday, it was time for the big one as a record turnout of runners were expected to descnd on the Central Motorway in Newcastle to do the half marathon, many for the first time ever. Among them was one person who'd done it before but has now made Great North Run history - Andy Burnham, who has become the first ever serving Prime Minister to do the race.

He joined a host of well known faces at the start, with others spotted in the crowd including North East Mayor Kim McGuinness, singer Joe McElderry, ex Sunderland manager Peter Reid and much loved football pundit Chris Kamara, running alongside This Morning's Ben Shephard. ChronicleLive were among them all to get some great start line shots, have a look at all our sundrenched photos in the gallery below...

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