The organisers of the Great North Run have issued an apology after finisher T-shirts and medals were printed with a map of Sunderland, rather than Newcastle. Approximately 60,000 runners took part in the half marathon on Sunday, running from Newcastle city centre to South Shields.
Runners noticed that the river depicted on their merchandise matched the shape of the River Wear, which flows through Sunderland, rather than the River Tyne. The medal is also inscribed with the names 'Newcastle', 'Gateshead', and 'South Shields', but these are overlaid on a street map of Sunderland.
Further scrutiny revealed that the medal appears to feature the Stadium of Light, home of Sunderland AFC, Newcastle United's arch rivals. Social media users quickly spotted the error, with one runner commenting on X that they thought it was a joke.
A spokesperson for the Great North Run admitted the mistake, saying: 'Lots of people looked very closely at the designs and none of us picked it up.' They added that despite the error, the 60,000 runners now have 'the most unique T-shirt and medal in Great North Run history'.
Race founder Sir Brendan Foster also expressed his surprise, stating he had spent 'ages marvelling at them' and never spotted the mistake. He added that he would still wear his medal with pride and joked about 'brushing up on geography' for next year's event.
