Carrying 25,000 bags and taking 8,000 passengers to the event’s start and finish lines – 20% up on 2016 – Go North East’s (GNE) role in the 2017 Great North Run was its biggest yet. It used 38 dedicated ‘baggage buses’, to carry the 25,000 items of runner’s luggage to the South Shields finish line. The buses were operated by GNE’s dedicated special events team, including 120 drivers, supervisors and engineers.
Among the tens of thousands of runners were team members from Go North East – fundraising in aid of their chosen charities.
Seasoned Go North East competitors included development manager Mark Ellis, who has 11 races under his belt and customer services supervisor, Ian McDonald, who boasts a decade dedicated to the event. Joining them were finance director, Paul Edwards and Frances Shotton from the payroll department.
Mark, who ran in aid of the British Heart Foundation and has so far raised £300, said: “As always the Great North Run was a fantastic day, for those of us completing the race and our teams on the ground who all did an amazing job.”
Managing director of Go North East, Kevin Carr added: “We take great pride in supporting the Great North Run and this year was our biggest and best yet. The event shines an international spotlight on our beautiful region so we love getting involved and helping make it run seamlessly, while really enjoying the fun that comes with such a special gathering. We already have plans in place to make 2018 another year to remember.”
