07/09/2014 Athletics

The Angel of the North, it has only been there 16 years but it is

already one of the defining images of the north-east of England. So is

the sight of thousands of people streaming across the Tyne Bridge in

the Great North Run. The first one was back in 1981, the 28th of June,

and it captured our imagination. The speed of the elite runners, the grit

and determination of the amateurs. It has made us laugh, cry, lifted

spirits and raised millions for charity. It will do all of that

again this year. It will also make sporting history. One of those

runners that makes their way over the Tyne Bridge to South Shields

will be the millionth finisher. It is an unprecedented achievement and

one that will stand forever in the record books. The Great North Run is

always a day to celebrate, this year more so than ever.

The Great North Run has, for many decades, given ordinary citizens

from all over the world the chance to be inspired and motivated.

The world 's greatest half marathon. I enjoy it and I just want to coming

back -- to keep coming back each year. I remember doing it when I was

19 years old. You know, the Great North Run is more than running. When

you come here and complete, it is something lovely. It is really,

really special. Any sporting event in the north-east is always so much

bigger because of the people here and the atmosphere. This Sunday the

1,000,000th run at -- runner will cross the finish line. That is an

honour which puts streets ahead of other smaller cities like London,

New York! And Berlin! You would never have believed we

could reach this number, we never aimed to reach this number. That is

quite an achievement. It is a massive achievement, it really is.

We won! I am very pleased to announce the

Great North Run, and welcome the event into the IAAF.

It is a story of incredible energy and of an event which is a living,

breathing movement which went ordinarily people decide to come

together, extraordinary things can happen and do happen.

It certainly was some night on the banks of the Tyne, and the date it

pointed to his here, good morning, this is a beautiful morning on

Tyneside, welcome to the 34th Great North Run and a very good morning to

my first guests, first names only, Brendan, and Seb. The man who

started it and the man who will start it this year. Thank you,

Brendan, everybody loves this event and clubs taking part, you must be

proud as punch. When you are involved, you are still nervous and

looking around, it is a bit warm and all of this, but when you see the

pictures on TV it is nice. I am looking forward to the race and

seeing what happens at the front. But I am more excited that we have

built this thing. Remember the film, Field of dreams, if you build it,

they will come, and we have built it and they came in their millions! A

million indeed. Going back to the first one in 1981 comment you must

have been even more nervous about people turning up, what is this

going to be like? I was running as well! Steve Cram and I ran together

for about five miles commonly caught me and he started talking to me and

I was retired by then! That old trick! He started talking to me and

I was knackered, I told him to go away and finish and he finished ten

places ahead of me. We did not know what was happening. It is more

sophisticated now. In those days we did not know what we were doing.

Like Seb said, we did it like the Olympics, we did it right. You

competed in the same teams and you have a bit of history, put into

context what Brendan has done. If I might have a few moments go back

slightly before 1981 because this was the guy that brought the crowds

back to British athletics. With what he did up at Gateshead, and his own

track career, it was that period at the end of the 70s where suddenly we

were being seen as a world class athletics nation again and it was

absolutely smart and sensible about in the same year the London Marathon

and the Great North Run started that journey. It's sort of captured the

imagination of everybody, seeing what we were doing in elite track

and field, wanting to be part of the running family. It has continued. I

think he has done an amazing job here. It is so much broader than

simply a race once a year, it is seeping into so much else and it is

the fabric of life appear. And great recognition from the IAAF, you are

vice president of the governing body, it has been recognised

worldwide. -- up here. Brendan came into my office a year ago and some

statistician was there, and he figured out that there must be

approaching a million, and they started benchmarking it against what

was going on in Boston, New York and London, and I am proud to be one of

those million, because I ran here in 2002 and I remember striding up and

down here at around this time of the morning, being nervous about running

13 miles, I was 12 years into my retirement at that point. It is a

fantastic opportunity to celebrate that, and I think we are going to do

that with all of the other racers as well. We will have more from you

later, the flag that was commissioned as part of the opening

ceremony is going to get to the finish with Marines. Colin Jackson

is with them. I am downstairs with a special team, quite a unique

mission. Sam and Jonathan. Give us a bit of background and tell us what

is happening today. We are here with the 1664 challenge, since January we

have skied the length of Norway, sailed to southern Spain, and then

cycled back up the length of Spain, France, the English channel,

canoeing across the Channel, and then we ran around the UK, 1664

kilometres to finish the challenge. With most of these gentlemen? We

completed the whole event with 4000 other Marines. They were jumping in

and out for little bits of it. Jonathan, you have been quiet, he is

doing the work and you are spending the money! 1664 is when the Royal

Marines was formed and we are using this anniversary to draw attention

to the fact that we have been hit more in Afghanistan than any other

formation. A higher number of dead and injured, and we have 155

seriously injured men to support including 30 amputees, and it will

cost about ?1 million to ?1.5 million to support a triple amputee,

so we owe it to the injured and everybody who has suffered as a

result of the conflict to support them as best we can, and these guys,

through their efforts, are helping us to raise ?2.5 million per year.

2.5 million! You will be carrying around this flag, that will give us

great aerial shots. We will carry on like a stretcher, visible from the

air, the lads will be carrying it. We will see you somewhere around the

streets. All the best. They will be with that flag all the way to the

finish. There is that and more besides over the next five hours. He

has won more Olympic, world and European medals combined than any

other British athlete, but today there will be only one thing on Mo

Farah's mind, winning his first Great North Run. There is an

incredible field in the women's elite race, arguably the greatest

ever assembled on the road. The Olympic, world and London Marathon

champions going head-to-head. Every bit as important to the magic of the

Great North Run are the stories of the amateur runners, we will tell

you as many as we can, and we have a box of tissues handy. We will bring

you extensive highlights from Thursday night 's opening ceremony

which you could quite reasonably describe as Tyne-tastic. That

ceremony set the scene, and the millionth finisher today, we wonder

who it will be. I am from the Midlands, doing my 13th Great North

Run for leukaemia research. I have no particular reason why I run four

lifeboats. What is the charity called? Unique. I would like to be

the millionth runner. I am running for the prestige. That would be

fantastic. I want to go down in history to be that person. It is a

once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It is a huge legacy for the north-east,

to be the millionth finisher would be unbelievable. It would be a dream

come true. Going down in history as the millionth finisher would be

great. It is going to be such a sense of achievement when I crossed

the finish line tomorrow. Excellent! Yes, who will it be? One thing is

for sure, they are behind me, and so is Tina Daheley. She is with someone

who has made a splash in the news recently with a selfie. Why are you

dressed as eight bee? If you look at the small things, the big things

will look at themselves. I have raised ?500 over the last couple of

days, thank you to everyone who donated. You have had quite a

weekend, are you planning to take any selfies? I might try to get a

few, I have had a few people saying, that is that girl! I have had a few

double takes. I might just do that. Tell us who you had a selfie taken

with on Friday. Barack Obama photobombed us. We were on a nice

family walk on Friday. How did that happen? We heard he was there and we

made our way across the fields, and hopefully get a chance to wave at

him, that was all we were thinking, and all of a sudden he was waving

and we were walking together, and it was nice to have a chat over the

garden fence. That is incredible. I hope today is exciting for you. You

just need to be the millionth finisher, that would top things off

nicely. A lot of good karma has happened this weekend, so maybe!

That is one for the family album. These days, with photo shop, maybe

no one will believe her! What about the atmosphere at the finish? I

imagine it is quieter down in South Shields. Phil Jones is there with a

clever bit of technology. Thousands of athletes will stream through the

finish later today but only one can be the lucky 1,000,000th finisher in

the history of the great event. The number currently stands at 900 City

4007 and 64, in a few hours it will take over to that magic 1 million.

-- 964764. There are 100 charities represented

here at the charity village and I have popped into one, the motor

neurone disease Association. You have been working for the charity

for a long time, have you ever known a time with such unprecedented

attention, with the ice bucket challenge? It has been a fantastic

and historic two weeks for the MND community. Not only have we received

over ?6 million in donations in two weeks alone, but the amount of

awareness and exposure for a rarely known disease, but one which kills

five people every day, has been tremendous. A lot of people around

the globe have had fun with it but a day like this is important for the

runners and their families? Absolutely, and an important part to

stress is that the Great North Run is just as important as the ice

bucket challenge. Who is to say that the funding that comes from this

tremendous event won't be the one that funds the research project that

makes the breakthrough? I wish use access with the fundraising. The

charity village is really quite something. Denise is going to have

an uplifting day. The something. Denise is going to have

featuring Britain's greatest ever distance runner, Mo Farah, looking

for his first ever Great North Run victory. He was just picked here

last year by Kenenisa Bekele. He looks very relaxed. We shall see

what is in store for Mo and I guess you could say for all of us life is

one step at a time but for a long-distance runner it certainly

is. I love running. I love what I do. It

is something I genuinely enjoy, and look forward to training every day,

putting a lot of miles behind me. When I run, I just go out there, go

in the zone, block everything and go out there. Sometimes if I don't wake

up in the morning and do my run, I feel as though something is

missing, like I have not done something.

What goes through my mind is my position, how much training. I love

representing my country and doing well, putting on a Great Britain

vest and hearing the national anthem. Not many people can do that.

It is important that you do the work and you enjoy it, and mentally you

try and be strong, and just keep grafting.

There are loads of times I have been struggling in training, telling

myself mentally I have got to do one more, one more, one more. You have

got to be strong. It is an addiction, a bit. People

say, look, you have achieved a lot. Olympics, the worlds, European, what

more on the track? I still want more. I want to collect as many

medals as I can. And make history. Yeah, beautiful film. You have been

a great supporter of Mo through the years, to watch him become this all

conquering athlete, and going back one year, losing to Kenenisa Bekele,

it started a difficult time in his career. A difficult year, but he has

had four glorious years, and then a difficult year, and in the difficult

year he has won two gold medals. The London Marathon did not work out too

well for him, and he has admitted that, but he is here now to try to

win a half marathon. We have not had a British winner since 1985. He has

his work cut out against the world champion. He is not as good this

year as he has been in the past four years. Stretching to the marathon

was always going to be tough. There are two things for me, here. If you

look at the four yearly cycle, when we were competing, you basically had

one year on and one year off, you have the Olympics, maybe the

Europeans and the Commonwealth Games. There is no easy year now, so

athletes do have to make a decision, over the four-year cycle, one of

those years for health and safety has to be an easy one, and I think

this was the right year for Mo to choose. He also wanted to find out

whether the marathon was only a possibility for 2016. If he wanted

to find that out, he had to do that this year. So it has been a year of

innovation but we should not overlook the fact that he has still

want European titles this year, which is not given to too many

people, is it? -- he has won. And we forget the journey he has been on

since 2010, the move to the States, there is nobody that has one more

championship medals in the history of our sport. So it is an amazing

story. I think next year after a good break at the end of this year,

he will bounce back for Beijing. How important do you think winning is

today, to Mo? He would love to win today. In 2008 when he came back

from Beijing having been so disappointed in his own performance,

asking where was the future for Mo? He said he was looking for a new

coach. He looked at the Tyne Bridge and said, what about that? He said

one day I will lead them over that bridge and crossed the finishing

line first. Said said had -- said coach is to have breakfast with him

and I said hello, and he said he hoped it would be today. The most

significant thing he said in their is that he still loves to go

running. That is important. Very quickly, what did Mo have for

breakfast? I can't remember! I think he had consumed the food by the time

I got there. It certainly wasn't a full English breakfast. Mo very much

the favourite, but what of the other contenders? Phil Jones is with Steve

Cram and Paula Radcliffe. I have moved up to the commentary

box at the finish, and alongside me, Paula Radcliffe and Steve Cram,

good morning. Morning. We have heard about Mo, but what about his rivals

today, has he got it all his own way? More his way than he had last

year, certainly. Last year was an incredible field with Bekele, and

highly gay Brit Alessi, she had a great race.

He will be revealed he does not have to face those legends, if you like,

but he still has a tough race ahead of him. There is always the

distance. He has still got those little issues around whether or not

the half marathon and ultimately the marathon is something he can cope

with. And just how good is Stephen Kiprotich? He is the Olympic world

champion at the marathon distance. Maybe not in quite as good shape

this year as previous years. He was 11th in the London Marathon, didn't

run particularly fast in the Paris half marathon. So he is not in the

brilliant shape that we have seen but he is getting a little bit

stronger this year, and he is more at home over the half marathon

distance than Mo is at the moment. Thanks for now, we will see how that

unfolds later on. One of the other rivals for Mo is his British

team-mate, Andy Vernon, a double medallist from the European

champions it's in zero. Going into the summer I thought I could get

medals, I was hoping for at least one, and the second would be a

bonus. I got to the European Championships, and it almost went

exactly to plan, could not have gone much better. COMMENTATOR: Andy

Vernon is going to get the silver explanation mark the icy -- Andy

Vernon is going to get the silver! . What a Championships he has had. Mo

Farah is in the race, and we know of his successes. I wonder how you

viewed that as another British distance runner, how much

inspiration he gives you? He does bring a lot of belief and confidence

to the rest of us. He has gone from being like the rest of us to much

unbeatable. Looking at where he has come from and where he is now come

he gives me the belief that I can be the same as well. Maybe not to the

standard he is that, double Olympic champion is something not many

people in the world have ever done. But to race regularly. Having had

success this year, you want more, do you think it will be an inspiration

to you? I am already looking forward to the European cross. I have got to

win that gold medal. In the age groups I have for individual medals,

two silvers, two bronze. I have always been the bridesmaid, never

the bride, so it is my turn to be the bride, now. Wonderful to see

Andy Vernon winning two medals in Zurich. Paula, is this a reward for

him fall of the years of endeavour? He has finally got to where he wants

to become a winning medals, being on the podium. I think it is something

he has been working towards over the last couple of years. We saw him

come through and win medals over the cross and European Championships.

And then to get onto the track and win medals, I think it has done him

a lot of good in terms of confidence and gives him a good springboard off

to get really competitive next year and world champion should level. He

ran really fast this year as well, that 13. 11 at the beginning of the

year. He is hanging on a bit now, and is definitely running on tired

legs. With that in mind, Steve, what would constitute success for him

today? I was chatting to him yesterday and like Paula, he always

thinks he will win, see what happens when I get out there. If he runs

something in the 61, 62 minute range, that is going to be very

good. He has had a great year and I think he will be enjoying it today.

He said he will see how he feels after about ten K and then he will

know what sort of race he will get out of today. Great day, great

occasion, and he will love being part of it. That's the men's race

taken care of, but there is also a certain matter of the women's elite

race, and there is a stellar cast. The distance starter out for a

special weekend at the Great North Run, quite possibly the best elite

women's field ever assembled here. Between them these women boast six

Olympic world and marathon titles. Edna Kiplagat is the reigning world

champion, in April this year she won the marathon in impressive style.

She hopes for a maiden victory in the Great North Run to add to her

collection. Pushing her all the way will be her compatriot Mary Keitany.

Twice a London Marathon champion, and the second fastest women's

marathon and half marathon winner in history. Kiplagat has beaten her

just once in four outings over those distances. Cheeky Gelana was crowned

Olympic champion in London in 2012 but has not found that form since

her accident at the 2013 London Marathon. Perhaps today is her day

to shine. A field of pure class, and Paula, I just wonder, do you have a

sense of any one woman being slightly better than the next? It is

a really strong field, but I think Mary Keitany has come here with

times in mind and a view to running very fast. She missed last year to

have a child, came back and raced a fast ten K in Ottawa in May, and I

think is coming in here looking at splits and really attacking the race

today. She is going to have a race on her hands but I think she will be

the one to watch. She gets worried when she talks about splits and

fastest times, because Paula ran fastest here. She has a real desire

to run fast, but Kiplagat, we would have had an even better race with

another runner, but she has food poisoning. But Kiplagat and Keitany

at their best are two of the best in the world at the moment. They will

want to do well here. But Paul is right, Keitany is the one who may be

forcing the pace -- Paula. Are we right to build this as the greatest

women's field ever assembled here, one of the greatest? Yes, apart from

the runner who has food poisoning, and she still has a big career ahead

of her at half marathon. Tirunesh Dibaba can't turn up at events like

this if she is not 100%. So it is understandable. But we will have a

great race even without her. Fascinating race in prospect, and

the mens rea is will be fascinating and we look forward to your

commentary. -- the men's race. Thanks very much. What about Greg

James, the Radio 1 DJ and television presenter. He ran this in 2009 but

you are more prepared this year? I am more prepared, that was my first

ever competitive run and I have no idea what to expect, I never thought

I would do anything like this. I caught the bug. This time round I

have really gone for the training and I have become that person! I

have got a running watch and I run back at the my radio show now. You

have been training with Lynsey Sharp. What was it like? Incredible.

It was great because there is this amazing thing which we all know

anyway, professional athletes have this incredible calm believe that

they can do it, it is not arrogance. Trading with her was incredible, she

is so chilled out. -- training. She said have a goal and pace yourself,

do not worry about what anyone else is doing, just have fun. It is a fun

thing, raising money for a good cause, there are great causes today.

It is supposed to be fun. I am trying hard to get under two hours.

The sun is pretty hot, how will it affect you? I have trained in all

weathers, there was a horrible miserable bank holiday a couple of

Mondays ago, and I thought I will go for it, pretend I am in a bad Rahm

calm and I am running away from my troubles. -- romcom. I have never

woken up on the morning of a race and been excited, I have always been

nervous but today I'm excited to get it done. I have changed my routine.

I have become a running bore. That will make the counter go over, at

two hours I do not think he will be the millionth finisher. Is the

rumour true that you get ?1 million for being the millionth finisher?

Definitely not. I thought Seb Coe would pay for it! Definitely not, he

is tight! I know you to eat. Get in touch. -- tweet. We are also on the

BBC's Facebook and Instagram pages. You can talk to Greg. We will take a

selfie. While we do that, let me tell you to go to the website to

look at the get inspired campaign, it is well worth a look.

And swimming and cycling, BBC Sport wants you to get active and stay

active. Find the sport for you. With information on how, why and where to

get stuck in. Don't just watch it, do it, get active, Get Inspired.

Kicking, skating, rowing. I am joined by Dennis and Chris, it is

fair to say that you are no stranger to the Great North Run. This is my

30th time of doing the Great North Run. This is my 34th time, 62 out of

68. That is incredible, you missed the first one but you had a good

reason. I had a six-month-old baby so I stood at the end in South

Shields with two young children to watch the finish. You have your

original medal? Yes, the first one I did was in 1982 and I still have the

medal. This is the first shirt from the first Great North Run. I can

still fit into it but I won't run in it today. Will you run together?

Dennis is a lot faster than me so I am happy to run nearer the end. I

will be aiming for around three hours. Last year I did exactly two

hours but I'm getting slower and slower as I get older. Best of luck

to both of you. Thank you very much. I am down at the wheelchair start,

the mens rea is is kicking off shortly. Shelly Woods and Jade

Jones. You are the defending champion, how are you feeling? I am

quite chilled out, I don't have any expectations, I enjoy the race and I

am here to see what I can do and hopefully go fast. You have won this

five times, it has not been the best year so far, what kind of shape are

you in? It has not been the best of years for me so far, there has been

a lot on this year, like the Commonwealth Games, Europeans, and I

have been doing road races as well and in terms of my results it has

not been going how I hoped, but the rest of the year for me, I will have

a few more marathons and get a bit stronger, and hopefully that will

put me in good stead for a good winter training next year. Jade, you

have had a good year and you are still pretty young, how do you fancy

this especially with the heat? The Great North Run is always a good

offence to end on and the crowd is always amazing. For me it is just

about having fun and seeing what I can do on the day. I have had a good

year, it has been tough but exciting. The Commonwealth Games in

particular at Hampden Park was a highlight? It was incredible, going

around the stadium, they follow you around, it is incredible. You get

that kind of thing with an event like this, lining the streets. You

have Tanni Grey-Thompson in your camp, she has won eight times, how

she giving you any tips? She has been there and done it all, she is

always there to cheer me on, she will be at the eighth mile. Colin is

with a double Olympic champion. I am pleased to be here with James

Cracknell. James, can I describe you as a veteran, how many have you

done? If you do more than one you are stupid, so I am a veteran

because this is going to be my fourth. I met someone in the hotel

who has done everyone. You seem as though you enjoy the whole

atmosphere here. I do enjoy it. It is great because there are guys at

the sharp end who want to win but people are here for different

reasons, raising money for charity, getting fitter, doing it with

friends, everybody has their own a man they can achieve their own

victory and that is why there is a positive atmosphere for the runners

and supporters. You mention that you run for charity, and there are

professionals. Who you running for today? I am running for a brain

injury charity, I suffered a similar injury in America a few years ago

and it is great to be part of this charity. There are a group of

Headway runners running today. Steve Cram gave me a good tip, he said

there is a tailwind for the first seven miles, I thought, yes, but

there are six left after that, for the rest of us that is quite a long

way! I am sure the crowd will support you, all the best. The sun

is shining and the excitement is building, are you excited? Very much

so. Mark, tell us your story come at you have had a difficult year. I

have been diagnosed with cancer a year ago, and I am running with my

son Ben and my daughter Abby. What made you decide to take part? Abby

has done it a few times, and I have been a spectator before and I

thought I had to do it now. You must be proud of your dad? My dad and my

brother were not runners, but I have persuaded them to do it this year

and it has kept my dad positive this year as well. Best of luck. As

thousands of runners gather at the start of the 34th Bupa Great North

Run we will hand you over to the commentator for the wheelchair race,

Andrew Cotter. COMMENTATOR: Good morning to everybody, what a

glorious morning here for the start of the men's wheelchair race and the

women's race starts together. Simon Lawson in the mens rea is may be

able to get close to the Spaniards, and in the women's race we have

already heard from the favourites, there is Jade Jones, it will be a

very good race between Jade Jones and Shelly Woods. Bronze in the

Commonwealth Games 1500 metres. But both of them will be at their very

best. Close to 50 minutes, and that is why the wheelchair race goes off

first because they cover the course little bit quicker than the rest of

the athletes. Shelly Woods, the best of the season is 50.07, better than

Jones but she has not had a vintage season. She is the defending

champion. And those two really are head and shoulders above the rest in

the women's race, it is not a huge field in the women's race, only five

going. In the men's race it is a much bigger field. There is no David

Weir. Josh Cassidy, the Canadian and David Weir have shared six titles

over the last half-dozen years, and we are just about ready to get

underway now. Away they go. At the start of the men's and women's

wheelchair races. And again in the women's race it will be a tussle

between Jones and words, and Nichols in there as well, looking to build

her insurers. Snopek lives and works in Britain as well. McTiernan, the

sporting athlete. Smith, the youngster from the Academy. This is

how they line up, Simon Lawson was second behind Josh Cassidy, he was

sick last year. Look out for Botello Jimenez. And Madeira, the two

Spaniards. Botello Was the last year behind Cassady and Madeira. You can

see the speed at the start of the course, it is downhill really until

you cross the bridge. The famous bridge across the Tyne. It is

overall a downhill course, that is why the records do not count

officially in a global sense on the course. That is Botello in the lead

at the moment. Simon Lawson is there as well. You can see the tactics of

wheelchair racing as well, sitting behind and getting a pull from the

athlete in front. They will get close to 45 minutes, you would

expect, but on stretches like this it is easy. Beyond five kilometres,

sorry for going metric on you, there is an uphill stretch, when you get

to Gateshead Stadium, but it is Simon Lawson out in front at the

moment in the red, and then you have Raphael Tan Warne. -- Botello.

That is Simon Lawson on the right. That is now three making their way,

Sam is a little bit clear of the rest. You can see the relative lack

of work that you have to do on this stretch, the hard work will come

later, there is no doubt about that. Well, back at the start the elite

women are ready to go on this beautiful morning, perfect

conditions, the sun is shining and the temperature is just picking up a

little bit, there is a slight breeze behind them. What a race we have in

prospect. Mary Keitany and Edna Kiplagat, two of the best runners in

the world. A former half marathon record holder, unbeaten in all of

her 8/2 marathon races. Coming back at the her second child, she gave

birth last year, and has come back into good form. She will be up

against the woman who won the London Marathon this year and is the

two-time world marathon champion, Edna Kiplagat of Kenya. What a day

this could be for Gemma Steel. The young British athlete who has found

her way into a new career, hopefully in the marathon, she is a European

cross-country silver-medallist and it is someone who we think has great

ability and perhaps this could be her day to really step forward into

the upper echelons of world half marathon running. And the Olympic

marathon champion, Tiki Gelana, it has been a difficult time for her

since that great victory in London two years ago, it is great to have

her on Tyneside. One or two other familiar faces to watch out for, and

no doubt we will tell you all about them over the next hour and five,

six or seven minutes depending on how fast they go.

On a day which has all the ingredients of a classic women's

elite race, Great North Run. That almost caught us all by surprise,

there, so away they go. And around about 30 women get the chance to

have the road all to themselves over the next hour or so. Then the mass

race will start 25 minutes behind them, and start chasing them down.

Paula Radcliffe is sitting next to me. We were chatting earlier about

the prospects today, certainly with Mary Keitany and Edna Kiplagat,

every prospect of a classic? We will have a quick word from Paula and

then we will be moving on. Every prospect of a classic, and key that

Mary Keitany was asking the statistician about the splits, and

the course record times, shows she is in very good shape. There was a

quick word from Paula, because as we saw earlier on, it is a special day

for the Marines as well, celebrating their 350th year. They have the

wonderful task of carrying the flag down to the finish line. And this

flag will of course reach the finish line before the millionth finish,

and they will be presented with a special ceremony, once we know who

the lucky person is. The Marines have played a big part in the

celebrations over the last two or three days, abseiling down the

Baltic yesterday. They were involved in the opening ceremony on Thursday

as well. And a great welcome for them. There is the flag. Special

flag created for this very special day. And a good early pace being set

by the Marines, as you would expect. Sorry Paula, to bring you back in.

Would you fancy running a half marathon in boots like that? I am

sure they will not be in good condition by the end of this race

today. Back to the women's race here, and they are settling in to

bat first slightly downhill section as Andrew talked about, it then goes

down through the tunnels and onto the bridge -- that first section. At

the moment they look as though they are settling into a decent pace, but

nobody really making any huge moves, as you would expect, at this stage

in the race. So they head towards the Tyne Bridge, and if you haven't

seen this after 34 years of watching, then where have you been?

This is the route. Cross the Tyne Bridge, a little rise at Gateshead,

past the Gateshead Stadium, past the roundabout. Fast section through

eventually to John Reid Road, uphill section 29 to ten miles, drop down

to the coast here at South Shields and then that long run into the

finish. I had to talk almost as quickly as Paula Radcliffe used to

run, through that map. These first couple of miles, Paula, you just

have to settle down. Even though I note that on the occasions when you

have covered this, your course record, you ran it about five

minutes to the first mile, and you almost can't help yourself. You kind

of drop down to the Central motorway, you want to get off the

start line. You are really ready to go, you have rested down in

preparation for the race, you go out to the start and you can feel the

atmosphere building. So many people are making their way out there,

getting excited about the race. And once the gun goes, the adrenaline

and energy gets released. It is about trying to control it a little

bit in the first couple of miles. And then once you go across the

bridge, a little bit of a Palop towards the Gateshead Stadium -- a

little bit of April at towards. -- little bit of a pull. It is easier

to come back and run faster usually in the second half of the race than

the first half of the race. So these girls will just be looking at each

other, trying to gauge a little bit. If they are aiming to run a fast

time, you still need to get moving in the first mile rather than

watching each other too much. Meanwhile, out in front, that is

Rafael Nadal in the red helmet there, just being shadowed by his

the three Spaniards and the man from Carlisle at the back, those three

leading them out. You can see the speed that they can get going here.

This is why you can go distances from 100 metres all the way up to

marathons, because you get the chance to have a rest with your

arms. There we go, they will share the workload. Drops to the back of

the three, and his team-mates Jordi Madeira comes through, the man who

was fourth last year. Simon Lawson in second place. So, the two

Spaniards who have gone below 45 minutes, in fact Madeira has gone

below 44 minutes, his best time this season in a half marathon, so he is

out in front at the moment from Simon Lawson, who was runner-up to

years ago behind the Canadian Josh Kasia B. Six last year. Russell

. Not sure how much warm up is required today, with sun beating

down on the athletes on the Central motorway. They stretch all the way

back, almost to the Cowgate roundabout. There will be some late

arrivals, some will have been there since very early this morning, and

some of them looking very sprightly indeed, why not? What a great day.

It could be you out there, couldn't it? At the front they will not be

too bothered about the millionth finish. Let's get some of the

statistics out of the way that Paula was talking about. She has the

course record of 65 minutes and 44 seconds, but for world record

purposes, there are certain rules about road racing and unfortunately

the Great North Run does not count. But there is a world best, and

certainly a British best, which you hold as well. It is a point-to-point

course, and the overall drop between start and finish. The first mile was

not that quick. It was reasonable. They were through the first mile in

five minutes 15 seconds, which is still decent. When I ran 67 minutes,

I went through in five minutes 25 seconds, so they are up on that

pace. It gives them a good start. Couple of qualifying criteria to

make it eligible for world records, the London Marathon only just

qualifies, because the start and finish points have to be within a

certain area. Yes, the finish has to be within 30% of the race distance

from the start, that's another reason the Great North Run does not

qualify, it is what you call a point-to-point, we start in

Newcastle and finish here on the coast in South Shields. Mary Keitany

was the former world record-holder. That record went to Florence

Kiplagat early in the year. 65 minutes 12 seconds, took a big chunk

off the record. Mary, at her very best, is certainly capable of

dropping down into 66s, maybe even 65s. The first of the landmarks, the

most famous landmark we will be seeing later in the programme,

providing the backdrop. The whole of the River was the backdrop for the

great ceremony on Thursday. And there you see the big sign on the

Tyne Bridge which has been up for two or three weeks reminding

everybody what a special day it is today for the Great North Run. And

pleased to say that the probably police escort helicopter, Brendan

has joined us in the commentary box. Not a bead of sweat on your

brow, you look very relaxed. Got he almost as quick as Paula did when

she ran it, but I was using a helicopter, which was fine. There

you can see, been describing so eloquently, that opening part. I am

delighted to see Gemma Steel in amongst that group. We will see how

well she can run today. Pace is fairly steady. As has been

described. And the crowds are out on a bright morning, here at Tyneside.

The elite wheelchair races and elite women well underway, we will keep

across all the action, as we continue our build-up to Mo and the

masses, the count thereto when they start, and of course the 1,000,000th

finish. I am running in the Great North Run for my son, Regan. Cancer

Research UK. MacMillan charity. I would love to be the millionth run,

it would be great to meet Anton deck and receive whatever they are going

to give me. Because it would be an absolutely fabulous achievement. I

would love to be the millionth run because I was part of the opening

ceremony and it was just the most fantastic experience. I would love

to be the millionth finish, because I am at a local lad and I love this

race and it is really brilliant. I want to be the 1,000,000th finish,

because that would assume that I finish. I would love to be it, that

would just be a great thing. I want to be the millionth run because I

want to go down in the history books as the millionth run. I would like

to be the millionth finish because it would be a great achievement,

basically. I would love to be the millionth run just to be part of

this historic race, it would be fantastic. I am joined by Gary and

Natalie who got married yesterday. Congratulations. Thank you. Why are

you here today? We absolutely love the area, the atmosphere of the day,

it is brilliant, so we thought, why not, we thought we would combine the

two, and we are here and loving it. At least the sunshine is shining for

you, enjoying your honeymoon so far? Tired. We had a disciplined night

last night and did not drink too much. You have brought some of the

wedding party? Yes, father of the bride here, and the two bridesmaids,

and the best man, and the vicar. Great. I am here with Craig Keaton.

You look in great shape, it must be said. Not bad for 21... Plus a bit,

I guess. Who are you running for? A young man who sadly passed away in

2012, Alex Williams, Alex Williams coming he had meningitis

unfortunately. That is who I am running for today and I can not wait

to get started. Obviously for a good cause. Do I have to look forward to

anything next weekend? Next Saturday you need to tune into BBC1 because

it is the final of tumble, the celebrities doing gymnastics, down

to the final seven and public vote now, so anything can happen. You

look in good shape, I'm pretty sure these users of the crowds will give

you great support and we will see you all the way through. Cheers

mate. Well, preparations are well and truly underway in the Charity

Village and I am just popping in to see the team at Macmillan Cancer

Support. It is April, isn't it? Tell me what you differ the charity? I am

and events manager. Working with running, cycling etc, some of these

big events. What does a day like this really mean to the charity?

Well one, we love it, and two, just the chance to have our supporters

out there coming in, and we want to make them feel as welcome as

possible. Tell us a little bit about what we have got here, some lovely

items. Feather boa 's and things like that. The idea is that when the

runners have finished their arduous task, we want to give them the

biggest MacMillan cheer that we possibly can. The idea is for a red

carpet, but they also want to have mementos of their day, because a lot

of people are running in memory of someone, a lot of people doing it

for fitness as well. But when they run for MacMillan, they are

generally doing it because they want to make a difference. So the idea of

my photo booth is that they can have these fun, entertaining

photographs, really help them remember that day. You have

wonderful nurses that we are trying to raise a lot of money for. Yes, we

want to make sure nobody faces cancer alone. And these kind of

events race much money and put us one step closer to ensuring that

happens. -- raise. There will be lots more from Denise, Colin and

Tina. Do you know what? They say the sun 's shines on the righteous,

Brendan Foster must have done something right, it is a stunning

day. They are getting ready behind me, the masses, and also Mo Farah.

For the moment let her back to the elite women's race. COMMENTATOR:

Thanks Jonathan. They are at a place which would be pretty familiar to Mr

Foster, they are just about approaching Gateshead International

Stadium, scene of so many great athletic days over the years, of

course. Pretty good pace being set here, the second mile they went

through five. 09. The leading group contains the main

protagonists, and Kilel, who made a brave attempt to win the

Commonwealth marathon, was beaten by Philomena Church up in Glasgow on

that day. Gemma Steel looking very quick. There is Gateshead Stadium,

looking resplendent. We have not had any big athletic meetings this year,

but the football team are not doing too badly?

Very rarely you go past Gateshead Stadium, as you know as well as

anyone, and there is no wind. Just a word on Gemma Steel, she set off at

a very fast pace. There is a leading group. She has at least having a go.

Her personal best stands at 70.19, and here is at the 60 minute pace,

she has moved ahead of Edna Kiplagat. She is not quite at the

lead group. She has 2 B careful that she judges her effort correctly.

Some of these will not be able to sustain this pace and she will be

hoping to be running on her own for much of the race, but that would not

have been a good move either, she knows that she has a big step

forward to make over the half marathon distance, she has raised

well over ten kilometres, and that would reflect her time. They have

gone through three miles, we will wait for her split to come through.

This group has already broken up, you can see Tiki Gelana is going

with the first surge by Keitany. That is very interesting at this

stage because the pace is already good. Keitany wants to push on a

bit. There is a rise up towards this roundabout at the halfway point.

That is the way that Mary Keitany often runs, she attacks Bury hard

from the start, sometimes pulling it off as she has when she has run

faster over the half marathon distance and indeed in the London

Marathon. In other times for example in New York, she went off on

world-record pace on the tough New York course and she came back inside

75 minutes, way back. So, the fast early pace is being set by Mary

Keitany. The Royal Marines are a bit behind, crossing Tyne Bridge. The

Royal Marines are carrying this 1,000,000th finisher flag which will

be presented as I said earlier in the ceremony, once we know who that

person is later. What a reception they are receiving. Where is Mo off

to, that is cheating. Brendan Foster has jumped in a helicopter to get

here but I do not think Mo needs any help. They are moving at a quick

pace. Three miles was covered in 15.25, 5.01 for the third mile. Mary

Keitany has only had one race this year, Paula was talking about the

way she likes to race, it is a good day for a fast time but you have to

be careful even if you are Mary Keitany. She won London in 2012, and

she went in to the Olympics as the favourite for the marathon, she was

second fastest after great performances from Paula, and I know

that she finished in fourth in London, the woman behind her Tiki

Gelana was the champion that day, bit of a surprise but a great

result. Now that Mary Khatami is back at a child and she is back as

an elite athlete again, so this will be interesting. She has been known

to go to quickly, and Gelana is not running excessively quickly at the

halfway stage. We have got an interesting battle here. Gemma Steel

has moved into third place, there is Gemma Steel, and this is a brave

effort from Gemma because those two at the front of running very fast

indeed and she is operating way inside her personal best. She has

glanced at her watch, I'll waste find that interesting, nowhere near

any marker, ABC can see the four mile marker in her sights. -- maybe

she can. They are heading up towards Heworth roundabout. She will come to

a point where these early miles will start to feel in her legs. She is a

little bit more inexperienced at the half marathon distance as opposed to

the 10k, and what she is trying to do is settle into her rhythm, and

find that, and what she may have been doing in glancing at a watch is

seeing her pace, being calculate it from the watch, rather than any

particular split, trying to settle into the rhythm that she knows she

has trained at and she wants Tuesday on pace from here because at the

moment she is in no man's land and she will be running this race a lot

of the time on her own and working on pulling back to the two ahead.

She is ready to run a good race and this is a good international race

for her, I good chance to mix it with athletes who win medals at

Championships, and for Gemma, the time is today for her. Striking out

in third place behind the Olympic champion in second place and the

second fastest marathon runner ever. Mary Keitany, she is now running

really aggressively, and I just watch this and I hope for her sake

that she is not going to quickly. Tiki Gelana has almost given up the

ghost straightaway, there is Gemma Steel, and Kilel is there to work

with, she has already slowed right down, paying the price for going

with Keitany. This could be a big day for Gemma Steel, we will keep an

eye on how she progresses. There is Gelana, as they go past Heworth

roundabout, there are always big crowds there. The masses will come

through their later. There you can see, that was another fast mile,

five minutes, if she averages around about this sort of time, she will

not be far off the course record, I don't want Paula to be too nervous

at this stage, but it could be a good day for fast running. It is

great. Over the next ten years I am sure they will catch up with Paula

Radcliffe, but she will be OK today. Meanwhile, back at the finish the

countdown is continuing, there is not long now before the main race

starts, lots of people with lots of stories, and here is a guy you may

be watching out for. I love running, I love what I do, it

is something that I genuinely enjoy. When I run I'd just go out there,

get in the zone, and sometimes if I don't wake up in the morning and do

my run I feel as though something is missing. There is loads of times

when I have been struggling in training and telling myself, I have

got to do this. One more, one more, one more. You have got to be strong.

The two big questions are: Can Mo win his first Great North Run and

who will be the millionth finisher? Back to Steve Cram and the team. It

is a beautiful day. As Jonathan was saying, the son is shining on the

righteous. And the rest of us as well. The last few moments as we

wait for the big names to be introduced, and of course there is

one very big name here, everyone is hoping he can win today, that is Mo,

he has a few good athletes up against him. We have just introduced

one or two of them to you and the rest of the crowd, including this

young man, Thomas Ayeko, just 22, he won the Birmingham half marathon

last year in 62.32, he is improving all the time, watch out for him. If

you were with us earlier, you could see us looking back on the great

performance of Andy Vernon, getting a silver medal behind Mo Farah and a

bronze in the 5000, he is looking through a good run in the half

marathon today. There is no Kenenisa Bekele, he won the race last year

but his brother Tariku who himself is an Olympic medallist from 2012 is

here. It is great to see him here. And the man who won that brilliant

gold medal in London and then followed it up with a world title in

Moscow last year, Stephen Kiprotich from Uganda. The main man of the

day, he wanted to win it last year, he took part in one of the greatest

races last year and he had a great time but this year he has come back

to win, he says. Mo Farah. So, a very special day for a very special

race. Tens of thousands setting out on their own journey, their own

story. Who will win, who will be the millionth finisher? It is one in a

million and further Great North Run. -- day for the Great North Run. Lord

Coe sets us on our way, one of the greatest sights in world sport, a

proud day for everyone and I am sure, on Tyneside and anyone who has

ever had anything to do with the event. 34 years, this event has

surprised us. It has been one which has played with our emotions over

the years, it has made so many people famous and also has given so

many people here in this part of the world, in the UK, and from the hold

-- the whole of the rest of the world so much inspiration. It will

take many of them a good few minutes, maybe half an hour for most

of them to cross the start line, but every single one of them will know

they are taking part in such a wonderful, special day, in this

great event. The celebrations began on Thursday, we will be bringing you

highlights of that through the rest of the morning. As Seb Coe stands on

his rostrum, chatting to him the other day, part of the great

celebration on Thursday night, you was saying that he still remembers

how saw his hands were after the high-fives! It is his turn to do

that today. Brendan, sitting next to me, I know you have already talked

to Jonathan about this, this site never fails to inspire, and for all

of us on Tyneside and the north-east of England, probably one of the best

things, certainly the best thing you have ever come up with, I am sure,

but the thing which reflects our part of the world better than

anything else. It is looking great and the weather is terrific and the

other night we had the tune Local Hero playing out, and I was standing

with Ant and Dec, and he said he was delighted when you can see United

adopted the tune and really excited when the Great North Run adopted it.

Declan turned to me and said, as a Newcastle is a mortar, we will lose

3-0 now! -- Newcastle supporter. Neither of the teams are playing

this weekend, thank goodness. You almost feel jealous sitting here as

elite athletes, including Andrew Cotter as well, this race is about

the guys at the front but it is much more about the thousands and

hundreds of thousands, and of course today millions taking part in the

race. One that we did not mention right at the beginning, Mike Keegan,

he is well-known to Mo, himself, he is not running Adley this year, he

helped Mo Farah's training partner to an American record in Eugene

earlier this year. He did a bit of pacemaking and he will hopefully

have a good performance today. The Japanese are such great exponent of

the marathon and half marathon and they have found a bright young

talent. Just 23 years of age. He has set a personal best this year. We

will have plenty of time to talk about those at the front. Streaming

across towards the Tyne Bridge. I remember that first, the first

couple of years, Brendan, the elite athletes have the way cleared for

them now, but the first years there were always one or two daft lads

trying to get on the telly on the Tyne Bridge first and then not enjoy

the next 12 miles by Toro to get to the front -- the next 12 miles. To

get to the front, you have to run pretty quickly to get to the front

these days. You can see them running together, running strongly, the sun

is shining overhead and hopefully it is not to heart, it is still a bit

cool down here in South Shields, that is pretty much OK. Mo is ready

to compete today, ready to run with these guys, he says he wants to do

better than last year, he was inches behind Kenenisa Bekele last year as

they went through the middle of the City. Meanwhile, right out in front

nearing the finish, into the final five kilometres, two remain in the

battle or the men's wheelchair race, Sam Lawson out in front, the

Carlisle athlete who was out in front of you years ago and just in

front of Jordi Madeira, the Spaniard, Botello the other Spaniard

who we had fancied to compete is over and minute behind, he is not

doing well. Shelly Woods is in sixth or seventh in the overall standings

in the women's race, Jade Jones is about a minute or so behind, second

in the women's race. We will bring you updates on that.

Simon Lawson still out in front ahead of Jordi Madeira, with about

ten minutes to go. Good old Seb. That was a narrowness. -- narrow

miss. Gemma Steel, you can just see their, in between Kilel and the

quickly tiring Gelana, the Olympic champion. From White Mare Pool

towards the Mill lane roundabout, quite a fast stretch, the next mile

or so, before you turn up the John Reid Road. That's ten kilometres

that has just been passed, not ten miles. Keitany in about 31 minutes,

20 seconds, that's very fast. There you can see, 31:16, the exact time

for Khatami, very quick running in deed -- Keitany. That's two seconds

quicker than I ran when I had the course record, so she is on very

fast pace and getting quicker. I did run the second half a lot faster,

but I know she can do that today. Aside from the drag from nine miles

to 11 miles, she has negotiated the steep climbs on this course. She has

broken clear. We have been watching what has been happening behind,

things are changing behind, but there is an assumption that she

knows exactly what she is doing, as we now watch the men, cross the Tyne

Bridge. The crowds are out, the groups together, sunshine. And there

they are. Well it's always a beautiful sight, the Tyne Bridge,

looking resplendent in the sunshine, as indeed the whole of the quayside,

which just yesterday was full with thousands of people watching the

Great CityGames. Fantastic day that was as well, and we might see

highlights of that action later as well. I reckon in the very first

year, it was the picture of everybody crossing the Tyne Bridge,

I'm not sure at that point they have closed the Tyne Bridge for anything,

it was that sort of iconic picture which really sealed what has now

come very familiar sight, that's the thing that made everybody think, I

want to have a go. It became an icon from the very beginning. The editor

of the Newcastle Journal brought me the front cover straight from the

presses. And that was the picture, the Tyne Bridge, with the runners

coming across. And that picture has travelled the 34 years and been the

iconic shot. Later on the Red Arrows will be visiting. There is the first

Northeastern runner, Ian Hudspith. The ripe old age of 40 something. He

is doing great. The kind of athlete who makes this board great. He

trains all the time. There are a few others joining in. That's very close

to my old athletic club, just dropping down towards the York

Avenue roundabout. This is a quick section of the course. And even the

horses could not keep up. She really is shifting. Now this is

interesting, Gemma Steel is also operating at a very good pace, very

fast pace for Gemma. She will be delighted with the way things are

going so far. She is pretty much now at the halfway point in this race.

She has certainly set out her store and is in very good company. She is,

she is gradually working her way back towards Killarney, who decided

that she was not going to go at the very fast pace being set by Mary

Keitany -- towards Gelana. We might see those three bunching back

together. Gemma looking round to see where Kilel is behind her. Maybe

they can work together over this section of the course. The only

thing you can say for certain is that will not be the finishing order

of second, third and fourth. This race is being run so quickly that

something dramatic will happen. Here is Mary Keitany, can she keep this

pace going? Well, it would be a big surprise if she did. Well it is Mary

Keitany, who makes her way towards South Shields. We are sitting at the

finish line and we can look up the road here, and I can already see the

lights of the lead of the wheelchair race. A long straight ahead of

Keitany at the moment, but this is going to be a very good finish. Well

into the final mile now of this race. Simon Lawson just ahead of the

Spaniard Jordi Madeira. Madero was fourth last year. He has been

runner-up here a couple of years ago. He is out in front. A big

tactical battle. Decent time, just beyond 40 minutes now. Certainly

going to be well below 45. Tel oh, the other Spaniard, was dropped at

around the ten minute mark -- ten mile mark. -- Botello, the other

Spaniard. Lawson in front at the moment, Madera possibly waiting for

his moment. The crowds starting to grow. They are standing ten, 12, 15

DP on either side of the road. As they go through 20 kilometres, with

Simon Lawson just a second ahead of Jordi Madeira. Lawson now pumping

those arms. Ever closer to the finish. And we start to see them on

the long-distance camera, and the crowds start to see them. First

finishers on this famous day. Is this going to be Lawson's first

victory in the Great North Run? Second in long-distance wheelchair

events, behind David Weir. He is not here this year. Josh Cassidy, the

Canadian who has won three of the last six, David Weir has won the

other three. Neither are here today, so a chance for somebody else. You

see the sign of 400 metres, so 500 or so remaining four Simon Lawson.

Madera just moving out, and decides to go wide, just tucks in behind the

bike, there. That's crafty. But he has made his move now, and I don't

think Simon Lawson has a response to the Spaniard. In danger of

overtaking the motorcycle, there. It is going to be his victory, he has

made his move, and he just gets across to the right side, after

using the other side of the road. As a look around to Simon Lawson, who

will be runner-up again. It will be victory for Jordi Madeira of Spain

and the time is a quick one, it will be very close to 43 minutes. Again a

look round to see that the victory is his. And towards the line, Lawson

is a distant second now, but Jordi Madeira, the Spaniard, things

victory in the men's wheelchair race, just outside 43 minutes.

Second against the Simon Lawson, what a grand effort for him. These

two a long way clear of the rest. What a race they have had. Smiles

and handshakes between them. Jordi Madeira first, and Simon Lawson

second, in the men's wheelchair race. Well, as predicted, we now

have a little group of three contesting second place here. Gemma

now settling in behind Tiki Gelana and Kilel. Hopefully they can find a

rhythm and work together. Gemma has been racing very well on the road

this year. She has not yet run on the track... I don't know if you can

hear the noise, the Red Arrows are practising as they leave

Southfields. Gemma has been racing well over ten, does. -- over ten

kilometres. In very good shape, and as we said, her personal best over

the half marathon. She wants to get some confidence from this race as

well to make that move forward up to racing marathon distance. This is

great for her, to be next to the Olympic champion, and you know this

race is not over. We are looking at the lonely figure of Mary Keitany,

who is eating up the roads and running excessively well here,

running really quickly. She has been getting ready for this race, this

may be the return of Mary Keitany, and if it is, you will see some

fireworks from her later in the year in the marathons and next year as

well. But let's not write this one off. 41 minutes of running behind

her, 25 minutes plus still to go. The chasing group are running as a

group. The Olympic champion running next to the great British athlete,

Gemma Steel, who is going to run the race of her life today. Well, we

have already had about 14,000 people cross the start line, and they will

continue doing that at a pretty rapid rate. Over the next 15 to 20

minutes or so. And one of those people down there will be the

millionth finisher today. Maybe a little bit further back. Great

vantage point over the Central motorway, plenty of people watching.

So many people have done this many times. But lots are here for the

very first time as well. So you can see there, almost 60 minutes into

the race. -- 16 minutes. At the front things have been going quick

in the mens rea. -- in the men's race. This is a subsidy minute pace

and that would be a personal best for Mo Farah and four others in this

group as well. So, a good fast early pace being set here. Keegan, who has

been used to doing that, just wondering whether Mo has asked

Keegan to help them go a bit quicker today. He did say he just wants to

win today, but Mo Farah never likes to do things too easily, and he is

already breaking up this group. Yes, Keegan is a training partner of Mo

Farah in the past, they know each other well. As the pace lifted, the

Olympic bronze-medallist, the brother of last year 's winner,

suddenly drifted and went off the back, and 16 minutes behind them,

they are coming past Gateshead Stadium. Mo has run many of his good

races at Gateshead Stadium. He has run two races this year, two gold

medals at the European Championships, 5000, 10,000 metres.

He is looking comfortable on the shoulder of Keegan, the leader, next

to Ayeko of Uganda, and the other Ugandan athlete, the Olympic

champion and the world champion, Stephen Kiprotich. He won that event

in London, he was the first Ugandan athlete since 1972 to win an Olympic

gold medal. And that was much celebrated back in his homeland of

Uganda. This really is a good, fast early pace as they approached the

roundabout, the first five K was just outside 40 minutes. That

wouldn't be bad for many people on the track to be honest. -- 14

minutes. Still early stages. There is the four mile mark. That is a

little bit slower, perhaps, through that mile section. One or two up and

down... I always call the Great North Run a bit of an underwriting

course. Not many big hills, but it does go up and down a little bit --

I call it a bit of an undulates -- undulating course. Kilel has dropped

off, and now it is just Gelana and Gemma Steel contesting second place.

What a great run from Gemma Steel, she is really mixing it with some

big names here. She is looking really strong. Gemma takes her own

personalised drink there, which I am taking as a good sign, that means

she is thinking ahead to maybe making the move to the marathon

where I believe she could run very fast, she is practising taking on

board her own fluids jarring fast pace run. Not necessarily but good

to practice at this case. I spoke to Gemma when she won the

great North Tank eight, and everyone was telling her about the marathon

but she does not fancy it. -- 10k. You should not do it unless you

really want to because it is a long way. One of the very few women to

have run under 2.24 the marathon, the second fastest marathon runner

ever. -- 2.20 for the marathon. She is still pressing on and she looks

smooth and comfortable and she has the credentials, she has won the

London Marathon on a number of occasions, she has been absent

through having a child but she is now back in action, compact,

controlled, and she looks as though she has got everything there for

her. Coming towards the finish, the woman who will won the women's

wheelchair race, and it is Shelly Woods, she has dominated the race.

We thought it might be close with Jade Jones but she left her earlier

in the race at the five kilometre mark. She has taken control and she

will finished just outside 50 minutes, victory number six in the

Great North Run for Shelly Woods. A half-dozen victories. This is the

end of a really dominant performance from Shelly Woods, just outside her

best time. Again, very impressive performance. Win number six in the

Great North Run. Celebrating the end of a season which has not been

fantastic for Shelly Woods but that a fantastic performance. Back in the

men's race, there have been one or two little developments here,

Kiprotich has dropped off, this place is being set well by Kigan. Mo

looks as though he is relaxed again, he looks behind and he sees that

Kiprotich is disappearing into the distance. They have passed the

Heworth roundabout now, we will be getting more of an update on the

splits in this solid first four miles, around an average of four and

a half minutes, well under the 60 minute pace. Like Mary Keitany,

maybe they are going a bit too early here. It will be interesting to see

whether Mike Kigen is breaking up the field and then Mo can relax,

that may the tactic. Mike Kigen is capable of running fast himself.

That maybe the tactic but if it is, Mo Farah did not know anything about

it when I spoke to him this morning. Now the race is getting interesting.

Ayeko of Uganda is in third place, hanging onto the pace. The Olympic

5000 and 10,000 metres champion. Recently winning the five and 10,000

metres at the European Championships. Starting to look

comfortable again. Fidgeting and looking around, I am not quite sure

what happened but suddenly you sense that with 22 minutes on the clock Mo

Farah is relaxing into the race. Well, the good news is that Mo

Farah, at the leader of the men's race and running well in the women's

race and about to pass through 15 kilometres is Gemma Steel, she has

moved into a clear second place ahead of the Olympic marathon

champion, Tiki Gelana of Ethiopian. Mary Keitany is still running very

well, a long way ahead. But Gemma Steel, she is making very good

progress here, obviously she had to slow down after that very fast early

pace here, but she is staying strong, and Mary Keitany's case has

dropped a bit and I detected a smile on the face of Paula Radcliffe as

she went through the previous mile, she has just dropped off a bit but

she is still going strong. She is now back ahead again. If it was my

marathon record I think I will be more nervous. I do think she is in

shape to get this, she has been inspired and fired up by seeing

Kiplagat running 56.12 in Barcelona. She wants to get under that time

today and she is on course to do that, three seconds ahead of 65.40.

Through the nine mile mark. She is still looking composed and strong

and she still has this and then one more climb up to the 11 mile mark

but pretty much now she is on a clear run, she can see the road

stretching ahead of her until she makes the drop onto the seafront at

South Shields. Well, she is approaching the ten mile point and

she will be very close to the 15 minute mark, and she will be able to

see that ahead of her. She will be into the last 23 miles or so. A

little bit of, rise through here. She has the road to herself, one and

a half minutes ahead. While she is doing that come it you can see that

was the ten mile mark. Meanwhile, the resplendent red arrows. Adding

their superb touch to a brilliant day.

They are as much a part of the Great North Run as the 1 million people

who have crossed the finish line. We will not know exactly who that

person is but I'm sure when they get down here the celebrations will be

huge, and the red arrows as ever will be entertaining us here in

South Shields on this fantastic day. They have got the sky to themselves.

A big blue sky for them to parade in. Mary Keitany, there, whilst we

were heading off to the red arrows she is just finding this a bit

harder now, Paula is sitting here and encouraging her, very kind of

her to do that, going towards her course record, but I think you are

right, these next few miles will be tough, she is on her own and she has

2 concentrate. The comeback trail she is on, the last two or three

miles on a half marathon is where you can find you out. This is a test

and she has seriously tested herself, she has ran fast, clearly

she is running hard, and she looks controlled and comfortable, but she

is certainly working for its now, 51 minutes, she has another 40 minutes

of running ahead of her, it may be a long 40 minutes but the great news

is that in second place behind Mary Keitany, a fair way behind, running

the fastest she has ever run, she has just gone through ten miles as

the runners come over the Tyne Bridge, streaming over the Tyne

Bridge, this is probably peak time. As they are doing this the athletes

are ten miles ahead of them and they will be strung out right from the

finish, right back to the start in a few minutes. There is the Great

North Run million, and these are the athletes amongst whom one man or

woman will be picked out. There, the three athletes, Mike Kigen, the

training partner of Mo Farah and a good running his own right. There

has a resurgence in Ugandan distance running. Last year the man down the

road behind these, the world and Olympic marathon champion will stop

Mo Farah is looking comfortable and relaxed now -- champion. As they go

through six miles. It is interesting to see them coming up to the 10,000

metre point and they will be just over 28 minutes. Mo has gestured to

Mike Kigen to push on, he wants to get rid of Ayeko. He beat Chris

Thomson in the Birmingham half marathon last year and I'm delighted

to say that Chris is working with our colleagues on five live today. I

am sure he will know more about Thomas than we do, but for the first

time he seems to be struggling with the pace, it is a good pace, keep

pushing on in this vast part of the course, take advantage of the flat

section from White Mare Pool. Putting pressure on, moving away

from the Ugandan. Come on, Mike, let's go quicker, the gap is

opening, I do not want to be caught out as they go through 10k. 28

minutes and 18 seconds, this is quick. Ayeko is a second behind them

but Mike Kigen is pushing and Mo is delighted for the company. They are

not at the halfway point yet, there is an awful lot of running to be

done. We saw Mo when he first came out at the disappointment of the

cover of games, he was not able to run and he was ill, he was having

training sessions and they weren't going well and eventually he decided

he could not run. He came back and run in the 10,000 metres and that

was the hardest championship race he has ever won out of the many, no one

has ever won more medals as a British athlete individually than Mo

Farah. In the 5000 metres he looked comfortable and in the two miles in

Birmingham last week. Just glancing over his shoulder, relaxing into his

running. When Mel is relaxed and running well, there really is nobody

better. -- Mo is. Mike Kigen is saying, get alongside me, we have to

go quicker now. You know Mike Kigen ran 60 .34 in a race in which

Kiprotich was behind him, 10th or 11th in the race. But these two know

each other well, Mike Kigen is behind him. He will want to put

distance between themselves and Ayeko and then maybe relax. And

still they come. It is such a colourful site, I went to the

exhibition in South Shields, the great North greats. Lots of lovely

pictures of the early races. It was so drab in those days, a bit of

blue, none of this technical stuff that we see these days. --

Technicolor. They did not have fluorescent colours back then. Or

Lycra, thank goodness! And of course, one of the big changes, so

many T-shirts and vests are people running for various causes and

charities. That has been a big feature of all of the big running

events around the world, the Great North Run certainly raises millions

and millions for charity over the years. Mary Keitany, then, 5.03,

another good mile from her, still forging ahead, that is a tough mile,

so if anything she has picked it up, the course record is 65.40, held by

Paula Radcliffe. You must be getting nervous, Paula, this is a great run

from Keitany. This is a great run whatever happens but she is still

looking strong. She is looking very strong, that is uphill, there, and

usually one way you slow down but she has maintained her pace within

five seconds of the previous mile. She has obviously still got a lot of

strength in her legs and she is pushing hard. She will know the

cause a bit and she will have studied at least the course profile

and she will know that when she turns onto the seafront it is a

fairly flat mile but it can be into the wind. Right here it is a pretty

calm day, whatever wind there is will be at her back. As we see Gemma

Steel pushing on. She is also having a good run, coming through the 11

mile mark, around 67, 68 minutes now. Gemma Steel has distinguished

herself on the cross-country and shorter road races, this half

marathon, she looks as though she is well on the way to a massive

personal best. Then she is feeling the pressure to run the marathon. I

think Paula should spend time with her because you know that you cannot

run a marathon she really want to and she says she really does not

want to, she enjoys running and wants to run these but maybe this is

an athlete that could represent Britain well but the next couple of

years will be really important for her, and the gardens that she needs

through those years I am sure could come from you. What she is saying at

the moment is that she is scared, you can see Seb Coe building up the

calluses on his palm! Every person will not quite manage to do that but

he will do as many as possible to inspire them on the way to some

great performances out there today. Has he ever run in this? He came up

in 2002 and he brought his young children and he literally left them

at the start and ran to the finish and then he came into the tent and

asked where they were! He found them eventually. To be fair. I can't

talk! In 1992 after the first year, that was a World Championship year,

and... They are running down an area which is familiar to you and I. They

have just gone past York Avenue. We all used to run many miles along the

streets around South Tyneside and it was a lonely thing to do, to be

honest, there was not many people out there. Lonelier than it is

today, they are coming down a slight incline, lots of people have

gathered around particularly a few yards ahead, but Mike Kigen is doing

a good job, doing a fine job, trying to win the race, maybe, keeping Mo

going, but Mo looks really strong and comfortable. He is relaxing. For

the moment there is two of them in the race and Mo will enjoy some real

support. What a privilege to see the greatest distance runner that

Britain has ever produced. The most championship medals we have ever had

from a single athlete, by his terms, he has had a difficult year, but a

difficult year with two gold medals makes it a hell of a year by anyone

else's standards, and he wants to win this one. In 2008 he said he

will lead them across the bridge and across the finish line. Last year he

led them across the bridge but he did not quite make it. He was not

leading across the bridge today, maybe that is a good sign? ! Talking

about familiar landmarks, there is a familiar crowd down there. Well, I

know that the message is something about me and you, so thanks for the

thoughts, I know they are big supporters of the event and so many

people of course over the years have planned their spectating places,

sometimes around the pubs on the route as well!

They get out there early, particularly at the finish, people

arriving early to book their place. Still going strong, Keegan.

Occasionally looks a little bit under pressure. I thought he was

looking really comfortable, really relaxing. Well into the second half

of the race now. Well, we are following the progress of the Royal

Marines. And the very special job they have today of guarding and

carrying the flag all the way to the finish line, the 1,000,000th run a

flag. I reckon they are passed halfway, not far from the John Reid

Road. Not far from the finish actually now is Mary Keitany. She

has been making fabulous progress. The course record of 65 minutes and

40 seconds... You can see another quick split, five minutes five

seconds for the previous mile and she is really motoring. We are

looking at something special here. I know Paula red Cliff always likes to

see people run well, but I am sorry Paula, I think your record is going

to disappear, because this is a great performance from Keitany. She

is now on to this final mile of the course and we will probably be able

to pick her out coming down towards us at the finish line soon. She has

attacked this race from the beginning and maintained that pays

very well, showing very few signs of fatigue, even on those crimes. I

think she senses, as we see the drop to the seafront, Gemma Steel coming

down, Mary Keitany is sensing the finish line, and she can put every

last effort into trying to crack that barrier -- even on those --

climbs. Gemma Steel will get a lot of information from the crowd about

how quick she is running and how well she is doing. She is going to

smash her personal best to smithereens, Gemma Steel, running

the best international race we have seen from her at a half marathon.

The future beckons for Gemma Steel. Maybe the longer distance, maybe

cross-country. But we are looking at a phenomenal performance from Mary

Keitany, coming back after having two children, the woman who has run

the second fastest marathon after Paula red Cliff, the lady who I

thought would revise the times of marathon running -- Paula Radcliffe.

Maybe she is the future of marathon running, because today she has run

with such concentration, with such power, with such speed. She is going

to be close to the record books, if she does not beat the record she

will go so close that the world will take notice of that performance. It

is in the balance. Slowed a little bit, Paula, two seconds at 20 K. You

saw the split come up while Brendan was talking. Two seconds slower than

you went through the 20 K point. It is all about this last kilometre or

so. She is into the last kilometre now, less than 800 to go. I think

she can do it. I was watching her go through the 800 metres to go marker,

and I think it left her about two minutes 30 seconds to cover the last

800 metres in, which is about a five-minute mile, so she should be

able to do that. She said she was going to use it at the gate as to

whether she should run a marathon this year, or leave it until 2015.

She is the king in very good shape you, so I would expect a marathon

this autumn -- looking. If she runs aggressively in the marathon, which

you always did, that is the way times change and records are broken.

This lady, apart from being fast at the finish, she has the

determination and ability. As we overlook overhead, South Shields, we

see Mary Keitany coming through with 400 metres to go, 64 minutes and 23

seconds. So she has got a bit to do, she has really got a bit to do. It

will be interesting and exciting, but whatever happens, a great

performance from Mary Keitany. The course record set in 2003, Paula red

Cliff, 65 minutes and 40 seconds. Within sight of Mary Keitany, the

finish line. In her focus, just wondering around the bollards there,

she needs to raise the game and find a bit of a sprint here. Mary

Keitany, never beaten over the half marathon distance. This will be her

ninth consecutive win. She has 200 metres to go, she has got to cover

it in a very quick 30 seconds or so. I'm not sure she's going to be able

to do that. Mary Keitany with a bright future ahead of her, I am

sure, at the marathon distance. What sort of time can she produce here at

the Great North Run? She has dominated this race from the very

beginning, set a fast pace. The others dropped away and could not

keep with her. Now the question is, will she break the course record?

The clock is ticking as she approaches the finish line. It is

going to be so close. She wins it and ties the record. We will have to

get official confirmation. I think it might have to get rounded up!

Paula Radcliffe said surely it gets rounded up to 65:41. We will have to

get official confirmation. But one thing you can say, that is one of

the greatest runs over the half marathon distance. It might be the

joint best run on this particular course. And for Mary Keitany, either

way, it is a new personal best. You can see very much that Mary Keitany

is back on top of the world. And here is another outstanding

performance, in second place, getting great support from the

crowd, Gemma Steel of Great Britain chopping minutes off her best

personal time. As long as she knows it, 66 minutes coming up, with 400

metres to go. Gemma Steel, the athlete who has been outstanding on

the country, she has been very good over short distances on the roads,

she is a reluctant marathon runner. She nearly ran London but then

didn't. She said to me, I am scared about the marathon, I am not sure I

am going to do it. Her next target, believe it or not, is the European

cross-country championship. But here she comes. Brilliant performance by

Gemma Steel. She is tired and she is working hard. The big clock ahead of

you will tell you that you are heading for a big personal best, she

will be able to see it as she comes round this traffic island, she will

have just over 200 metres to go. She stuck with the very fast pace being

set by Keitany, it was a brave, brave thing to do. There were better

runners, supposedly, in the field, including the winner of the London

Marathon, Edna Kiplagat, including the Olympic marathon champion, Tiki

Gelana. She can see it is ticking away, but a personal best is going

to be completely revised here. She is heading for one of the quickest

ever half marathon times by a British woman. Paula Radcliffe of

course tops that list, Liz McColgan is second best, that time has gone,

Marianna Gucci with a third best of 68: 29, she is going to be in the

top three of all time half marathon times for a British athlete. Gemma

Steel, second place in the Great North Run, due to personal best.

Well done, Gemma. Great performance from Gemma Steel. And look how

delighted she is, and so she should be. We will get the official clock

for her as well. Gemma Steel knows that it has been a huge day for her.

As we see the Olympic marathon champion Tiki Gelana coming through

in a pretty respectable time of 68:43. News coming to me at the

minute is that the official time of the winner, and I am sorry, Paula,

but I have to say that the new course record holder for the Great

North Run is Mary Keitany, 65 minutes and 39 seconds is the

official time. And there she is, celebrating with Gemma Steel, and

with Tiki Gelana. A very high quality one, two, three, in the 2014

Great North Run. Still a smile on Paula's face. Look at this, Keegan,

the man who trains with Mo Farah in the past, he has set the pace, not

only for Mo in the past, but his training partner is telling the

pressure, turning the screw, and Mo Farah just revelling a little bit

here. He tried to stay with the leaders last year and only lost out

in a spin. He needs to hang onto Keegan here, at this stage you

cannot let somebody get away. You certainly cannot. And when the

cameras flashed for the women's race ending, they saw what was

cameras flashed for the women's race in the mens rea is, there was a sigh

as they saw Mo Farah losing a few yards -- in the men's race. His form

is going a bit. Mo Farah is staying more consistent, almost closing up

slightly here. We have a race on our hands here. The two training

partners who spent many, many years running together, training together.

This is not how you do it if you are in complete control. Mo Farah just

being tested now. Can Mike Kigen keep going at this pace, let's face

it, we all know that when Mo is under pressure he can produce a

fantastic finish. He needs to start thinking about it, closing that gap.

You sense that he maybe went through a bit of a bad patch, but you do go

through bad patches in these sorts of races. Still working hard. One

thing about Mo Farah, whether he is running great or poorly, he always

gives 100%. The word graft is a word he uses often. I think your point,

as we are watching these two, is they went from the six mile, 4:20

seven, 4:20. Anything inside 4:30 is very fast indeed. That's why he is

tired. Keegan might be even more tired at this point, and we will

obviously find out. The ninth mile is a bit slow, but that's the one up

John Reid Road. It is what happens from this point on. One thing we can

say, they are both, at this point, heading for a quick time. Both

heading for a quick time and Mo getting tantalisingly close. He has

been considering this race for a full year. He was extremely

disappointed to lose the race last year, and he lost the race last year

by not negotiating the hill very well, he ran slowly down the steep

hill leading to the seafront. I think we will see him run

differently today. He joked about it at breakfast, he said, watch me down

the hill today, I am not going to make a mistake. Now he really is

being tested. Andy Vernon is running a good, solid race. He is in sixth

place, having won two medals in the European Championships, and it is

great to see Andy sticking to his task. Eventually I think Andy Vernon

will run a good ten mile, and a very good half marathon. But he has had a

hard season. In sixth place at 15: It is. Looking at his watch, he

knows exactly what he is doing. He should enjoy this one. He is running

well. The Keeley just ahead of him. -- Bekele. Four minutes 37 through

the 10th mile, and Mo Farah back with Keegan, and he will just be

hoping that he has maybe pushed on a bit too early. He has a look behind.

There is no danger behind him. Now if he can to stay with Keegan to the

seafront I am sure he will be able to, because Keegan must have gone a

bit quick through that section, surely he cannot find another couple

of miles under four minutes 30. I think Mo Farah will have had a bit

of a shock, he spoke about wanting to win the race at times not being

important. I'd think he was expecting Mike Kigen to take the

race to him quite as much as he did. I think it is a good move by Mike,

he has tried to use the surprise element and make it a hard race for

Mo. He went through a rough patch between nine and ten miles, but now

he is back, to be behind Kigen, and the closer he gets to the finish,

the more it is in his territory. He knows he has the excessive speed

along the seafront, he knows he can run quickly. It is a case of getting

himself ready to be running the spring. He has closed the gap and

looks to be running more smoothly than he was a couple of miles ago.

Bit of a rock and rolling style from Mike Kigen, but there he is, Mo

Farah, a yard or two, giving us a little moment or two of anxiety. No

British athlete has won this race since 1985 when Steve Kenyon won the

race. That was a long time ago. He was a good athlete in his day, Steve

Kenyon. But we have not had a British winner since. We have had

lots of good ones tried but we have not had one succeed. And here are

the last few people crossing the finishing line. Sebastien is still

there to shake hands, shaking hands, and the man with the green hair

giving him a bit of advice, I don't know what he needs the umbrella for.

We are well over 41,000 people crossing the start line. We will get

an exact figure. That will be a record on a

record-breaking David Great North Run. -- day for the Great North Run.

Will it be a record day for Mo Farah? They are still on 60 minute

pace, if they can finish strongly, that would be a big run from Mo if

he can get under 60 minutes, given what has happened to him this year.

Kigen is still pushing on, there is still a three-metre gap and you

always like to see people right alongside at this point or at least

tucked in right behind. Three or four metres. I always think that Mo

sometimes thinks I'm OK here, but you have to be careful. He is OK but

do not let it grow. He could be in complete control at that point. Is

that Kiprotich? That is Ayeko, the other Ugandan athlete. He is in

third place there. Running through, getting some support there, too. He

is in a lonely Place now, he is well behind the leaders and it looks as

though there is a fair gap to his team-mates behind him. Thomas Ayeko

from Uganda. At this point we are still wondering now what is

happening up front as the race changed, has he got any closer, can

he hang on? There is the overhead shot, he is tantalisingly a few

yards back, lots of athletes at this point would run on the shoulder of