Thousands flock to city for Great Birmingham Run

Thousands of people took to the streets of Birmingham for the city's biggest running event.

The AJ Bell Great Birmingham Run saw runners competing in either a half marathon or 10km race around the city centre on Sunday.

It kicked off from Centenary Square with half marathon runners heading out towards Selly Park, before running back to finish at Smithfield in Digbeth.

More than 14,000 people are believed to have taken part with 25,000 spectators cheering them on from the sidelines.

More than 14,000 runners had registered for the event

Hundreds of children were also invited to take part in a 1.5km dash for minis, while youngsters aged nine to 15 years old competed in a 2.5km sprint.

Stephen Blake, Tomos Roberts, Paul Howard, were named as the top three racers in the 10km competition with times ranging from 31 minutes and 16 seconds to 31 minutes and 51 seconds.

They were closely followed by Gemma Steel with a time of 34 minutes and five seconds.

The city centre was filled with thousands of runners

In the half-marathon, Omer Ahmed, Tom Scrutton and Eddie Lynch were the fastest men while Abbey Van Dijk, Agnieszka Wilk and Lauren Cooper were the first women over the finish line.

This year’s event featured a Race within a Race as England took on Wales with more than 200 runners from both nations taking on the 10km as part of the International Age Group Masters Match.

These runners have had to qualify to be part of this international match across five qualifying events, including the 2023 AJ Bell Great Bristol Run and Great Manchester Run.

Proceeds from the event will be donated to a number of charities including Cancer Research UK, University Hospitals Birmingham Charity, Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity, St Giles Hospice and the British Heart Foundation.

The fastest half marathon runner made it over the line in one hour and five minutes

Paul Foster, chief executive of The Great Run Company, said: “Once again, it was wonderful to experience the Centenary Square start line atmosphere and great to see the running stars of the future complete the junior and mini event.

“This weekend has been a running party atmosphere like no other, and I congratulate each and every one of our participants for their incredible achievements."