Great North Run

[bigmomma1]

Hi everyone,

my husband is planning to run in the Great North Run this year and wants me and my DS to join him. I want to be there to be supportive but I have my reservations and was just wondering if anyone has experienced taking children there. We went to London in April to watch him run the London Marathon and although it was a brilliant experience and I was very proud, I did find it stressful. On the day of the Great North Run, I will be 36 weeks pg and my son will be 2yrs9months. I'm worried about the huge crowds and the lack of distractions (compared with London) among other things! Any advice/ words of wisdom would be greatly received! Would it be awful if I didn't go???

I live locally and have run it twice. Its a great day as a runner and i really appreciated my family being there the first time. DH & kids (7 & 9) were near the start and also managed to get to finish on public transport(I'm not a fast runner!). My mum was at 5 mile point. Crowds are fab and really keep the runners going. I was flabbergasted that all of these people stand by the side of the road and cheer people on (I must admit i've never done it in all the years that I havent run!). The second time i did it i told family they neednt bother as i do reckon it is hard on the spectators, and in your particular situation, I reckon NIGHTMARE! However... it finishes on the sea front and further along there is a nice park, boating lake and a fun fair. In theory you and ds could do all of that while dh is running and then make your way to the finish at the time you think he may finish. However you will have to agree this in advance as mobile phones dont work, there are too many people trying to text, I sent loads and no-one got them til hours later and the same with the ones that people sent to me. Also the fair, park etc are prob a good 20 mins or more walk from the finish. The public transport system is as good as it could be but with all of those runners and specators it could never be as good as it needs to be (does that make sense??)
Where are you from? I'd say ideally come to the area with him and maybe do the park etc if you are up to the walk to the finish. There are grassy areas along the side of the last 500 metres and so if you dont need to be right at the actual finish line you could plonk yourself down on the grass and get a good view but you;d need to have a pretty good idea of when he was going to finish or you'd have a long wait! (I do ramble on a bit, sorry!). Feel free to ask anything else!

Thanks FoJo - that's really helpful advice. Like the idea of the lake and everything at the end. We're from Chester so planning a night in a hotel on the Sat. Is public transport on the day better than using a car?

Hi bigmomma,
I live very close to the finish line and the town gets very busy. It would have to be public transport to get from newcastle to south shields as the roads are closed fairly early on. The metro system gets busy but there is loads of extra staff on helping people out.
If you were to catch metro then its a short walk along Ocean Road from metro to the beach and Marine park (boating lake, playground etc)and fairground, bowling alley, soft play and crazy golf.
Lots of fish and chip shops and eateries along the way.
As Fojo said the atmosphere is amazing lots of people lining the roads cheering runner on.
Failing all that pop along and grab a cuppa from me.

Good luck trying to book a hotel...

Thank you - lots of good advice!