Morrisons Sponsors Great Newham London Run

Olympic medallist and Great Run Series founder Brendan Foster and Mayor of Newham, Sir Robin Wales have announced plans to create the UK’s biggest mass participation running event to be titled the 2015 Morrisons Great Newham London Run

The run is due to be staged over 10K on Sunday July 19th and will be the first event to take place in the former Olympic Stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park since the transformation work began. There will also be a 2K family run which is open to runners of all abilities aged five years and upwards.

A new element to the 2015 Great Run Series is the Morrisons Great Marathon Team Relay event, which is also set to start and finish inside the Stadium.

Nova International Chairman Brendan Foster said: “We’re working in partnership with Newham to make the Morrisons Great Newham London Run, the biggest running event in Britain. Our aim is to build to 60,000 people taking part every year within five years.”

The Great North Run is currently the biggest annual running event in Britain with 57,000 participants. The London Marathon and Great Manchester Run have approximately 40,000 runners taking part.

Foster said: “It took us 30 years to reach 50,000 participants at the Great North Run. We are now aiming to create Britain’s biggest annual running event. It will be spectacular to see 60,000 people running around Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and crossing the line in the Stadium.

The London Borough of Newham has invested £45 million in the former Olympic Stadium and South Park, and the Morrisons Great Newham London Run represents one of Newham’s ten Community days with exclusive access to the stadium.

Nick Collard, Group Marketing and Customer Director for Morrisons said: “The Great Run Series has become an essential part of Britain’s calendar. As we begin to play our part in getting more of the nation running, we’re delighted to witness such a huge development in the inaugural year of our sponsorship.”