Great North Run 2013 live on BBC One

The North East plays host to the last major UK athletics event of 2013 and BBC Sport will be following all the elite racers and charity runners at the 33rd Bupa Great North Run on September 15.

Part of a great weekend of sport in the area – which also includes the BBC-televised Great North CityGames – the world’s biggest and most iconic half marathon will have a record 56,000 entrants this year.

Leading the men’s elite field and fresh from his double haul of 5,000m and 10,000m gold medals at the recent World Championships will be Britain’s Mo Farah.

In what has been billed as the greatest ever half marathon head-to-head, the double Olympic and world champion Farah will face two former Olympic and world champions – the famous Ethiopians Kenenisa Bekele and Haile Gebrselassie.

Farah is a relative newcomer to the half marathon distance, and Bekele will be making his debut at the distance, so both face a formidable opponent in the shape of 2010 Great North Run winner Haile Gebrselassie.

The women’s race has an equally intriguing contest, as two great rivals go head-to-head in the shape of Ethiopians Tirunesh Dibaba and Meseret Defar. Dibaba is the reigning world and Olympic champion at 10,000m, while Defar holds both titles for the 5,000m.

Both will be hoping to beat the reigning London Marathon champion, Kenya’s Priscah Jeptoo, while Gemma Steel leads he British challenge.

There is intrigue in the wheelchair races, too; Britain’s David Weir, who won four gold medals at the London Olympics, faces the reigning champion of the Great North Run, Canadian Josh Cassidy.

In the women’s race, Britain’s Shelly Woods – who was runner-up at last year’s London Marathon – faces domestic competition from 17-year-old Jade Jones, the rising star of the British Paralympic team.

No Great North Run would be complete without the mass entrants, and this year will see a record number take to the start line to the north of the city centre, before crossing the iconic Tyne Bridge and making their way to South Shields for the finish by the sea.

As well as those just taking part for enjoyment and perhaps their own personal goals and challenges, many will be many raising money for good causes close to them – one of the main ingredients of any major mass-participation race.

BBC Sport will cover all the stories from the elite and charity across the course with its usual extensive coverage of the world’s biggest half-marathon.

Jonathan Edwards presents four hours of live coverage on BBC One and BBC One HD, starting from 9.30am on Sunday morning (September 15).

Regular on-course reports will come from former top British athletes and BBC regulars Denise Lewis and Colin Jackson, plus further interviews from Phil Jones, while commentary will be led by Steve Cram and Brendan Foster, who will be joined by the former world marathon and half marathon champion Paula Radcliffe.

There will also be comprehensive coverage of the race on BBC Radio 5 live and regular updates, reports and interviews on the BBC Sport website, plus a 45-minute highlights show on BBC Two at 4.45pm.

Ahead of Sunday’s Great North Run, BBC Sport will also be covering the Great North CityGames from the NewcastleGateshead Quayside.

Now firmly established as part of Newcastle’s Great North Run weekend, the CityGames takes place on a specially built 200m running track on the bank of the River Tyne.

In addition to a programme of flat and hurdles races, there are pole vault and long jump competitions, and men’s and women’s mile races around the quayside.

Headlining the event is Britain’s newly-crowned 400m world champion Christine Ohuruogu. She will compete over 150m at the CityGames.

James Dasaolu, who ran 9.91 at the British Championships in July, making him the second fastest Britain of all time, runs in the 100m. In the T43/T44 100m, Great Britain’s Paralympic and world T44 100m champion Jonnie Peacock will race against his great rival, American Richard Browne – the man who took his world record.

The women’s 100m hurdles will be a battle between the three medallists from London 2012 and the bronze medallist from the recent Moscow World Championships.

Australia’s Sally Pearson, the Olympic champion who took silver in Moscow, lines up against Dawn Harper and Kellie Wells of the USA, with Britain’s Tiffany Porter completing the line-up fresh from her bronze medal at the World Championships.

The men’s 110m hurdles is equally mouth-watering, featuring the recently crowned world champion David Oliver up against the Olympic champion Aries Merritt, with the silver medallist from Moscow, Ryan Wilson and Britain’s Will Sharman completing the field.

In addition to in-depth analysis and comment, there will be a look ahead to Sunday’s Great North Run featuring Mo Farah.

In what is one of the last track athletics events of the season, BBC One has live coverage of the event starting at 1.00pm on Saturday, September 14m, where presenter Jonathan Edwards is joined for expert analysis by Denise Lewis and Colin Jackson, with Phil Jones trackside.

Commentary comes from Steve Cram and Paul Dickenson. 

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Saturday 14th September

Great North CityGames 2013

LIVE: 1.00pm-2.30pm  BBC One

Sunday 15th September

Great North Run 2013

LIVE: 9.30am-1.30pm  BBC One

Highlights: 4.45pm-5.30pm  BBC Two

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