One of Great Britain’s most popular half marathons, Newcastle’s Great North Run, has issued an apology to its 60,000 participants after mistakenly featuring a map of the wrong city and river on its official medals.
Instead of the River Tyne, which runs through Newcastle, the medal showed the River Wear, which flows through the nearby city of Sunderland. Every finisher’s medal handed out on race day had the error.
2025 Great North Run medal features… err…. Sunderland instead of Newcastle
Oops! pic.twitter.com/1hsYOnFZbo
— Jim Scott (@jimscottjourno) September 8, 2025
The mix-up, which spread quickly on social media, sparked plenty of humour. Some runners even pointed out that the organization committee must be Sunderland AFC fans because the medals were strung with red-and-white ribbons, which are the home colours of the town’s football club.
On Monday, organizers posted a statement on social media saying they were “sincerely sorry” for the geographical mix-up.
“As the eagle-eyed have already spotted, the shape of the river on this year’s finisher T-shirt and medal is indeed the River Wear,” the statement read. “To answer the rumours that this was the route reveal for next year… sorry to disappoint, it’s a mistake. Lots of people looked very closely at the designs, and none of us picked it up.”
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The event’s founder, 1976 Olympic medallist Sir Brendan Foster, admitted he didn’t notice either. “I spent ages marvelling at the designs and never spotted the mistake—even when they were hanging in a department store window,” he said.
“We’ve been celebrating the region for more than four decades. This year, we just celebrated a bit more of it than usual,” Foster joked.
This year’s Great North Run saw 2024 London Marathon champion Alexander Mutiso take the men’s title, while New York Marathon champion Sheila Chepkirui won the women’s race. Kenya’s Vivian Cheruiyot placed second, with Great Britain’s own Eilish McColgan finishing third.
Organizers promised one thing for 2026: they’ll brush up on their North East England geography.
