Eilish McColgan and Abel Kipchumba lead Great North Run line-ups

Kenyan goals to defend his males’s title whereas McColgan seems to observe in footsteps of her mum with first GNR victory

Abel Kipchumba will defend his males’s crown within the AJ Bell Nice North Run on Sunday (Sept 7) with Eilish McColgan main the ladies’s line-up.

Kipchumba, who received 12 months in the past on Tyneside in 59:52, will face competitors from fellow Kenyan Alex Mutiso Munyao, the 2024 London Marathon winner.

Bashir Abdi, the European document holder for the marathon from Belgium, and 2021 Nice North Run champion Marc Scott are additionally within the males’s elite subject.

Kipchumba mentioned: “I’m very joyful to return to the Nice North Run once more this 12 months. It was an important honour to win one of many greatest half marathons on the earth at my first try. I do know I’ve powerful competitors this 12 months however am prepared for problem.“

Within the ladies’s occasion, McColgan will go face to face with Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui, who completed third behind McColgan within the 2022 Commonwealth Video games 10,000m and was victorious on the 2024 New York Metropolis Marathon.

They are going to be joined within the begin line by Nice North Run champion from 2016 and 2018, Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya.

After her blistering run on the 2024 occasion which noticed her compete in a six-way struggle for the end, solely successful will rely for McColgan in 2025 to affix her mum Liz on the honours board.

“I can’t wait to return to the AJ Bell Nice North Run this 12 months,“ says Eilish. „It’s an occasion that holds fond reminiscences for me.

„I’ve at all times cherished competing in Newcastle and naturally we’ve got a proud household historical past on the Nice North Run. I’ve had an important season this 12 months, I’m feeling actually robust particularly off the again of London Marathon so hopefully 2025 is third time fortunate, after I can match mum’s success and win this 12 months’s race.

„The crowds are at all times wonderful all alongside the route – the thrill I get from listening to them will certainly spur me on!”

Males’s wheelchair entries embrace final 12 months’s runner-up Sean Body, Commonwealth medallist Simon Lawson and Rafa Botello of Spain, whereas within the ladies’s race Mel Nicholls and Rita Curucca of Italy are among the many contenders competing for his or her first Nice North win.

READ MORE: Flashback to our 2024 Nice North Run protection

Over 100 invited elite athletes from throughout the globe from america, Ethiopia, Kenya, Japan, South Africa and Europe will participate within the annual AJ Bell Nice North Run, finishing the 13.1-mile course from Newcastle to South Shields.

Sir Brendan Foster, founding father of the Nice North Run and president of The Nice Run Firm, mentioned: “It’s at all times an honour for the North East to welcome world class athletes from throughout the globe to the Nice North Run every year, and nothing fills me extra with satisfaction than seeing a beginning line up just like the one we reveal at present. Our spectators each on the streets and at dwelling are in for some nice sporting motion as soon as once more!”

The Nice North Run will probably be reside on BBC1 from 10am-2pm on September 7.

The elite wheelchair races begin at 10.20am with the elite ladies at 10.25am, the visually impaired athletes at 10.27am and elite males and lots more and plenty at 10.50am.

Elite athletes will line up alongside 60,000 runners on the forty fourth Nice North Run, cheered on by over 200,000 supporters lining the enduring course route from Newcastle metropolis centre to the coastal city of South Shields.

Many runners will probably be collaborating to assist worthy causes, elevating an estimated £25 million for charity.

The 2025 AJ Bell Nice North Run concludes a weekend competition of working with begins with the Nice North 5km on Friday earlier than the Junior and Mini Nice North Runs on Saturday.