Strong elite fields and fine weather could provide a fitting spectacle as 45th anniversary edition of the world’s biggest half marathon gets under starter’s orders.

The 2026 edition of the AJ Bell Great North Run was always going to be a special one, given that the event will be celebrating its 45th anniversary on Sunday (September 13), but the elite races at the world’s biggest half marathon could provide further cause for celebration.

With the weather forecast set fair – the sun is due to come out, the breeze to remain gentle and the mid-race temperatures are expected to peak at around 17 degrees centigrade – might there be a course record or two to come on the famous route that begins in the heart of Newcastle and finishes right on England’s North East coast at South Shields? 

Both men’s and women’s winners from last year – the Kenyan duo of Alex Mutiso and Sheila Chepkirui – are not only back to defend their titles but also to lay down markers ahead of their respective marathon assignments later this autumn. 

Men’s Field

With his half marathon personal best of 57:59, Mutiso is comfortably the fastest man in the field. Should everything line up for the 2024 London Marathon winner, then he may well threaten Martin Mathathi's course record of 58:56 that has stood for 15 years. 

This will be the latest staging post on Mutiso’s way to the start line of the Valencia Marathon in early December, where he is due to face a field that will include Yomif Kejelcha – the man who finished second behind Sabastian Sawe’s world record-breaking 1:59:30 with his own astonishing marathon debut of 1:59:41 in London back in April. 

Mutiso impressed on Tyneside 12 months ago, taking his first Great North Run win in 60:52 after battling through the tough headwinds shoulder to shoulder with Belgium’s Bashir Abdi for the majority of the race.

“[The Great North Run] was important because it gave me courage for the New York Marathon [last year],” says Mutiso. “The race will help me to prepare well for the next marathon. It will be great to meet people [in Valencia] like Yomif and John Korir, who have fast times because I know that when we push each other I run my personal best. I like running with people who are faster.”

Mutiso’s main threats this time around look set to come from American athletes. Casey Clinger is the US record-holder for 25km, boasting a half marathon PB of 59:34, while the Moroccan-born Zouhair Talbi has a half marathon best of 59:41 and became the fastest American finisher ever at the Boston Marathon earlier this year in placing fifth with his time of 2:03:45. 

Clinger’s training partner Clayton Young has designs on breaking the official US marathon record of 2:04:43 at Chicago next month and will also be tuning up, hoping to improve his half marathon best of 60:52.

“I’m really excited,” said Young. “I talked to my coach [Ed Eyestone] a couple of days ago and he said: ‘Your half marathon PB is embarrassing – we’ve got to get that faster! I’m excited to have not just my own confidence but also his confidence that I can run fast this weekend. It looks like the weather is going to be amazing and the course can be really fast with the right conditions.”

Patrick Dever will lead the British charge. His run of 59:56 at the New York City half marathon in March put him second on the UK all-time half marathon lists, while he became Britain’s third-fastest marathon runner ever with 2:06:18 in London.

The former NCAA 10,000m champion is also plotting a return to the New York Marathon in November, having finished fourth there on his debut over 26.2 miles before being upgraded to third after the disqualification of Albert Korir due to doping offences.

The 2021 Great North Run winner Marc Scott will be able to rely on the home support on Sunday, too, as will two-time Olympian Andy Butchart, while a strong Japanese contingent is headed by Taiga Hirayama, who has a PB of 60:44 and has won the Osaka, Yamaguchi and Yangzhou Half Marathons in 2026. 

For the first time, the North Eastern Championships have been incorporated into the Great North Run, offering added significance to athletes such as British international and Gateshead Harrier Calum Johnson. 

“Every year, I still feel like a young kid,” he said of the event. “Every time it comes around I still feel like that 12/13-year-old that grew up watching it on the TV, getting excited and getting that feeling of: ‘Oh wow, something big is happening in the city’ so it never gets old. 

“I’ve probably been involved in it since I was born. I'm a triplet so my mum and dad would have had the three of us on the side of the road in a pushchair, ringing cowbells or something like that. The first time I raced it was 2021, but that was a post-Covid course [that was changed]. It was really good but it didn’t quite feel like the real thing. I got to race it in 2022, though, and that was the original course, the real event. I remember standing on the start line and for about 10 minutes I just had goosebumps.”  

Women’s field

It was Chepkirui who stole the spotlight as she strode to victory in South Shields last year. The 2024 New York marathon winner had surged to the front early, working in tandem with compatriot Vivian Cheruiyot to set the pace. As the pair approached the final stretch along the coast, Chepkirui found another gear, pulling away to secure the win in 69:32.

The tough, blustery conditions meant that that winning time was some way short of her half marathon PB of 64:36, which is not far off the women’s course record of 64:28 set by Brigid Kosgei back in 2019. 

The former world record-holder and winner of the 2026 Tokyo Marathon, running her second-fastest marathon ever in the Japanese capital, is returning to the Great North Run start line and looking to challenge Chepkirui, who enjoyed victory at the Nagoya Marathon earlier this year and will contest the New York Marathon once again. 

Kosgei’s Great North Run course record-breaking run seven years ago was faster than the then world record but, due to its point-to-point nature and the fact that it has an overall net downward elevation drop, the route is not eligible for official records. 

There will be no autumn 26.2-mile challenges for Eilish McColgan, who finished a close third last year. The British half marathon record-holder (65:43) has been unable to race for much of the year thanks to the broken toe she sustained at the London Marathon, though she got a much-needed confidence boost by winning the Big Half on September 6 – her first competitive outing since April – and insists she is making real progress. 

“This [injury], mentally has been so much easier and so straightforward,” says McColgan, who will be joined on the start line by fellow Briton and 2021 European Indoor 3000m champion Amy-Eloise Neale. “Every two weeks it’s getting better and better fitnesswise.

“I’m still a long way off my best but, considering I’ve only had four weeks of actually doing sessions and still only around 70-75 per cent of my normal volume, I’m pretty happy with where I’m at. 

“I’m not a robot and people online have been like ‘oh she’s so far off her best’ but when you’ve only had four weeks’ training that’s what happens. It’s hard to get back into again, fitness takes time to build, so I just have to be realistic. Four weeks ago my fitness was in the bin but I’m seeing real progress and I missed out on the summer so why not make the most of being among 63,000 people on the start line here?”

Wheelchair races

David Weir is no stranger to the Great North Run, having won the race eight times and holding the course record of 41:19 from 2018. His last win came in 2022 and he will be up against defending champion Sean Frame.

The women’s field is headed by Melanie Woods, the Scot who won Commonwealth gold in both the T54 400m and T54 1500m events in front of her home crowd at Glasgow’s Scotstoun Stadium this summer. 

Elite start times

Sunday, September 13 – broadcast live on BBC1 from 10am to 2pm.

10.20am – Elite wheelchair athlete start

10.25am – Elite women start

10.27am – Visually impaired start

10.50am – Elite men and masses start

The 2026 AJ Bell Great North Run concludes a weekend festival of running which starts with the Great North Run 5K on Friday, September 11, and the 40th Great North Junior and Mini events on Saturday, September 12.