Interesting debate, to which I'd like to contribute.
I ran the
2003 Great North Run, the same edition of the race as Andy.
It's a great event. I found a bed in a Travelodge in Durham. That accommodation cost me £50, which was fine, and was chosen to plan for a quick exit, which didn't happen. It took me 10 very frustrating hours to get back to Guildford from South Shields. The Metro, the A1, and then M1 were all completely jammed with cars full of southward-heading runners and spectators. You really don't want to get home at 1 am having just run a half marathon, and neither do your family appreciate that idea very much when they're waiting for you for six hours to collect them on the way.
All valuable lessons learned, as they say. Although perhaps I should qualify that statement about it being a great event, too. There really is a great atmosphere at the start line. Getting 50,000 people to run together is something very special. But that's also one of the drawbacks, since whilst it sounds like a great concept, it's actually a physical impossibility.
Just imagine trying to get the departing crowd from St James' Park to run a half marathon at the very moment when they all leave the ground after the game. It would be total chaos, wouldn't it ? Well, the start of the Great North Run is largely like that. And unlike the London Marathon, it never thins out on the road, not even in the closing stages.
If you want to run a slow race, and tick off one of the major events from your lifetime list, then this one is for you. If you want a PB, you'd better run somewhere else.
The other experience I remember is that whilst there was great cameraderie between the runners at the start line, there was no real crowd atmosphere on the road. It just doesn't compare with London for streetside support - and more than that, it doesn't even come close. A thin gaggle of black and white striped shirts raising a Newcy Brown to you along a half-deserted dual carriageway, uphill, - well, it's just not the same as running through a million-strong wildly cheering crowd in one of the world's great cities.
I'm glad I ran it. But just like Andy says, once was enough for me.
