Great North Run - History
The first ever Great North Run was staged on the 28th June, 1981.
Back then only 12,000 runners participated - that's 35,000 runners short of the number of entrants this year!
The event was devised by former Olympic 10,000m bronze medallist and BBC Sport commentator Brendan Foster.
Foster was inspired after running in the Round the Bays Race in New Zealand in 1979.
For the first year it was advertised as a local fun run - twenty years on it has become one of the biggest running events in the world.