Great North Run 2026 celeb runners in 14 shots including Peter Reid and the Prime Minister!

As ever, there were a whole host of celebrities at the start line of the Great North Run on Sunday and we managed to get photos of a few of them. But it would be fair to say that one person not many people would have been expecting to see was Andy Burnham, who made history as the first ever serving Prime Minister to do the famous half marathon.

The first big name to do the Great North Run, back when it started was Kevin Keegan, with the late and great Newcastle legend, who sadly passed away in July, causing quite a stir by running in a half and half Newcastle and Sunderland top, as he raised a huge amount of money for charity. Since then, a whole host of stars have got their trainers on to take on the 13.1 mile route, with runners this year including ex Sunderland manager Peter Reid, former Strictly finalist and Morning Live host Helen Skelton, the cast of The Traitors, including series 4 winner Rachel Duffy and This Morning presenter Ben Shephard, together with mate and much loved football pundit Chris Kamara, who were both running for Prostate Cancer.

Someone else who ran this year was South Shields' own Joe McElderry, who revealed he only signed up to run for If U Care Share 'about a month ago,' having once completed the GNR in a very impressive 1 hour 30 minutes when he was 19. Mr Burnham lined up alongside Joe and other celebs, including Joe Wicks and Jake Quickenden on the Central Motorway in Newcastle, as everyone waited for this year's official starter, Dan Burn, to get them underway.

The PM finished in a very impressive time of 1:57:34 this year, with Joe McElderry also coming in at just under two hours too. Have a look at the celebs from the Great North Run 2026 in our gallery below...

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