Great North Run 2025 medal unveiled in collaboration with Newcastle artist

Yahoo

13 hours ago

The Great North Run's 2025 medal has been revealed, inspired by art and poetry.
Unveiled on August 14, the medal is the result of a collaboration between the event and Newcastle-based 'art of illusion' artist Howard Lee.
Mr Lee is known for his hyper-realistic 'Real vs Fake' style and his work has gained global recognition through social media and television.
The medal design features the Tyne Bridge, alongside lines from the poem We are the Great North Run, written by George Caulkin, North East sports correspondent for The Athletic and The New York Times.
Great North Run's 2025 medal has been revealed (Image: Supplied)
The poem has been adopted as the theme for the 2025 event.
Howard Lee, artist, said: "Because my work is viewed in video form, there are a lot of ways to experiment with creating illusions or playing around with perception.
"Realism is already a type of artistic illusion but the video creates a certain way of seeing it, adding another level for the audience.
"The starting point for this type of artwork is almost always to find a range of art materials that can be blended to accurately match the colours in the real piece.
(Image: Supplied)
"The depiction of the Tyne Bridge and surrounding poetry took quite a lot of colour mixing.
"I feel very privileged to have been involved in the process of revealing this year's medal, it really is quite a striking design."
Mr Lee has lived in Newcastle for nearly 20 years after moving to the region when his wife secured a job in the North East.
He said: "We drove up here not knowing what to expect and we never left because this region has everything you would want.
"It has everything really – the people, the atmosphere, the culture, landscape, art, architecture, food.
"I feel very lucky to have found myself here."
The Great North Run has been a fixture in the North East for 44 years, celebrating 'ordinary people doing extraordinary things'.
This year's event will take place on September 7, with 60,000 runners expected to take on the 13.1-mile course from Newcastle to South Shields.
More than 200,000 spectators are expected to line the streets to cheer on the runners.
The 2025 AJ Bell Great North Run will be broadcast live on BBC One and will feature elite men's, women's, and wheelchair races.
Among the competitors will be Olympian and Great Run Ambassador Eilish McColgan, who has confirmed her participation.
Organisers say the medal is a celebration of the spirit of the North East and the collective achievement of everyone who takes part.
A spokesman for the Great North Run said: "Every one of them a story.
"But together, we are the Great North Run."
The medal reveal video is available to view on Instagram at @great_run.
Runners and fans can also find out more about this year's event and the We Are The Great North Run campaign on the official website.
Registration is now open to be notified about the 2026 ballot.
For more details or to sign up for updates, visit www.greatrun.org/events/great-north-run.