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Great Eastern Run
Great Eastern Run Logo
DateOctober (Annually)
LocationPeterborough, United Kingdom
Event typeRoad
DistanceHalf marathon
Course records1:01:40 (men)
1:11:52 (women)

The Perkins Great Eastern Run is a running event that takes place every year in Peterborough, United Kingdom, generally in mid-October. The event returned in 2006 after a 10-year absence and is rapidly gaining popularity. Currently, there are three races in the whole event:

Half Marathon – A 21.0975-kilometre (13.1094 mi) race which winds its way through the city's streets.

Fun run – A 5 km run which starts and finishes at the same place as the half marathon.

Wheelchair Race – This follows the same route as the half marathon.

Despite its name, the Great Eastern Run is not a part of the Great Run series of events, which includes the Great North Run.

History of the Event

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The first Great Eastern Run took place in 1982, boasting only a half marathon. The event was much less popular and well-known than it is today. This format existed until 1996, when the half marathon ceased and was replaced with two different events: A 10km run around the East of England Showground and a shorter race known as the Arthur Bowden 5.[1] With so few events, the run became less and less popular and gradually deteriorated into almost nothing.

However, the Great Eastern Run was relaunched in 2006 with the half marathon returning as the main event, much to the delight of keen runners across the country. Roughly 3,000 runners took part in the whole event.[2] A prize list of roughly £11,000 was announced, taking the race into the top five in the country for total prize money.[3] Perkins Engines announced it would sponsor the 2006 race – the deal has been so successful that the company still sponsors the Great Eastern Run today.[4] At the 2006 England Athletics East Region Awards, the Great Eastern Run's committee (consisting of Peterborough City Council, Perkins Engines and local running clubs) won the Athletics Partnership of the Year Award.[5]

Due to the success of the 2006 event, the Great Eastern Run took place again in 2007, with well over 3,000 runners taking part. 2,285 people managed to complete the half marathon.[4] The number of entrants for the event increased by 20%, with the number of fun runners almost doubling.[4] In a poll of the readers of Runner's World magazine, the Great Eastern Run achieved a top 50 rating out of 736 races across the United Kingdom.[4]

The 2008 event again saw an increase in the number of entrants, with approximately 4,450 runners taking to the streets of Peterborough.[6]

Roughly 3,480 runners took part in the half marathon of the 2009 event, with about 1,300 people competing in the fun run.[7] For the first time, the fun run was chip timed and was advertised as being 4 km in length (in previous years it had been advertised as 5 km). All three races were started by Barry Fry, the director of football at Peterborough United.[8]

The 2010 event was unique because it took place at a time and date consisting purely of the number 10. The half marathon started at 10 seconds past 10:10, with the date being 10/10/10. Record numbers of runners took part, though the event was overshadowed by the deaths of two runners in the half marathon. Detective Constable Rob Davys collapsed during the race and was taken to Peterborough District Hospital. Despite the efforts of paramedics, he was later pronounced dead. A local runner named Matthew Ward (also a local teacher) also collapsed shortly after the race – he too was pronounced dead at the hospital. These were the first fatalities in the Great Eastern Run since the event was relaunched in 2006. The high temperatures meant that in total, 15 people required medical attention.[9][10]

The 2011 was another record year with over 4,100 entering the Perkins Great Eastern Run. The winner, Edwin Kiptoo, completed the flat course in 62mins 28sec. Liz Yelling created a record by being the quickest woman, completing the course in 72mins 14secs.

In 2012 the Perkins Great Eastern Run, took place on 14 October and was one of only five runbritain Grand Prix races as well as being a UK Championship race.

In 2013 the Perkins Great Eastern Run, which took place on 13 October, reached a record number entries, which was beaten in 2016 when 4262 runners ran the half-marathon and 1257 people took part in the Anna’s Hope Fun Run. Organisers reported that at one stage during the event more than 10,000 people were in the crowds on The Embankment as runners crossed the finish line. In 2017, numbers declined very slightly with 4193 finishers in the half-marathon.

The 2019 half-marathon was cancelled owing to a major incident on the course.[11]

The event was revived in 2022 with new organisers. Perkins stopped sponsoring the event., and AEPG sponsored the 2023 event which was started by England's most successful Olympian, Sir Jason Kenny, who also ran the event, finishing in 1hr 48m 28.1s.

Route

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The route is very flat, with a rise of only 13 metres. All events start and finish on The Embankment beside the River Nene. The half marathon and wheelchair race then follow the same route. A full route map is available online at http://www.perkinsgreateasternrun.co.uk The fun run route is 5k, only running as far Princes Gardens before heading down Eastfield Road and the same finishing straight as the half marathon.

Past winners

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Original Race

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[12][13]

Edition Date Men's winner Time (h:m:s) Women's winner Time (h:m:s)
1st 1982 John Offord Celia Hargrave
2nd 1983 Mike Exton Celia Hargrave
3rd 1984 Keith Best Karen Fulgum
4th 1985 Ian Thompson Karen Fulgum
5th 1986 Laurie Reilly Annette Bell
6th 31 May 1987 Angus Kindley & Tony Green 1:05:59 Celia Findley 1:20:41 [14]
7th 1988 Gary Spring Tina Lazenby
8th 1989 Giovanni Rizzo Gillian Castka
9th 1990 Giovanni Rizzo Gillian Castka
10th 1991 Giovanni Rizzo Annette Bell
11th 1992 Giovanni Rizzo Sue Baker
12th 1993 Wayne Buxton Teresa Dyer
13th 1994 Daniel Shungea Teresa Dyer
14th 1995 Steve Brace Mandy Ayling

New Race

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Edition Date Men's winner Time (h:m:s) Women's winner Time (h:m:s)
1st 15 Oct 2006  John Mutai (KEN) 1:04:35  Cathy Mutwa (KEN) 1:12:58
2nd 14 Oct 2007  Raymond Tanui (KEN) 1:03:48  Jo Wilkinson (GBR) 1:14:32
3rd 12 Oct 2008  William Chebon (KEN) 1:02:57  Jo Wilkinson (GBR) 1:12:36
4th 11 Oct 2009  Neil Addison (GBR) 1:07:32  Jo Wilkinson (GBR) 1:13:40
5th 10 Oct 2010  Edwin Kipyego (KEN) 1:02:16  Edith Cheline (KEN) 1:13:33
6th 9 Oct 2011  Edwin Kiptoo (KEN) 1:02:26  Liz Yelling (GBR) 1:12:14
7th 14 Oct 2012  Luka Rotich (KEN) 1:02:25  Emily Biwott (KEN) 1:12:29
8th 13 Oct 2013  Nicholas Kirui (KEN) 1:03:59  Purity Kimetto (KEN) 1:11:52
9th 13 Oct 2014  Jonah Chesum (KEN) 1:03:36  Perendis Lekapana (KEN) 1:12:40
10th 11 Oct 2015  Philip Koech (KEN) 1:01:40  Lenah Jerotich (KEN) 1:13:02
11th 9 Oct 2016  Shadrack Kimining Korir (KEN) 1:03:38  Teresiah Omosa (KEN) 1:15:06
12th 8 Oct 2017  Tom Evans (GBR) 1:08:40  Georgina Schwiening (GBR) 1:15:26
13th 14 Oct 2018  Lucian Allison (GBR) 1:05:27  Amy Clements (GBR) 1:14:09
13 Oct 2019 Cancelled due to Police attending incident on course [11]
2020 Cancelled due to COVID 19
2021 Cancelled due to COVID 19
14th 16 Oct 2022 Logan Smith 1:05:55 Nina Griffith 1:15:58
15th 15 Oct 2023  Joe Wilkinson (GBR) 1:06:23  Mabel Beckett (GBR) 1:17.05

Winners of the Wheelchair Race

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References

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  1. ^ "Taylor glad she didn't pack in" Peterborough Evening Telegraph 5 May 2005
  2. ^ "Great Eastern Run to return" Peterborough Evening Telegraph 15 December 2006
  3. ^ "Great Eastern Run aims for the stars" Peterborough Evening Telegraph 23 February 2006
  4. ^ a b c d "Great Eastern Run set to be greater in 2008" Archived 6 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Peterborough Evening Telegraph, Peterborough, 14 February 2008.
  5. ^ "Award boost for the Great Eastern Run", Peterborough Evening Telegraph, Peterborough, 4 October 2007.
  6. ^ Ogden, Julia. "Peterborough getting ready for the Great Eastern Run 2009" Archived 6 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Peterborough Evening Telegraph, Peterborough, 9 October 2009.
  7. ^ "Perkins Great Eastern Run 2009 hailed as a success", Perkins Engines, Peterborough, 8 March 2010.
  8. ^ "Barry Fry to kick off the Great Eastern Run" Archived 30 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Peterborough City Council, Peterborough, 21 September 2009.
  9. ^ "Two men die in Peterborough half marathon", BBC News, Peterborough, 11 October 2010.
  10. ^ Beacock, Kirsten. "Two tragic deaths at Great Eastern Run" Archived 12 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Peterborough Evening Telegraph, Peterborough, 11 October 2010.
  11. ^ a b Freddie Lynne & Lauren Brown (13 October 2019). "Perkins Great Eastern Run cancelled due to 'serious police incident'". CambridgeshireLive. www.cambridge-news.co.uk. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  12. ^ "It was wizzo Rizzo for four years running". The Peterborough Evening Telegraph. 5 October 2017.
  13. ^ Bob French (10 October 2014). "Africans certain to dominate the Great Easterne once again". Peterborough Today. Peterborough Telegraph. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  14. ^ "GREAST EASTERN RUN: Mobile Fone is back is back for the 'best race around' - 17/8/06". Peterborough Today. Peterborough Telegraph. 17 August 2006. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
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