Thousands of runners hit Sunderland streets for city 10k and half marathon

The Sunderland City 10k and half marathon got underway for the eighth time today as professional runners and fun runners pounded the streets.

Thousands of people took part in the 10k event, which started and finished at Keel Square, opposite the Vaux site.

Picture special: Sunderland City 10K and half marathon

And, the spectators, joined by Mayor of Sunderland, Coun Doris MacKnight, lined the street to cheers them on.

Winning the 10k for the first time was Andy Powell, who runs with the Sunderland Harriers.

The 33-year-old was delighted to take the top spot in just over 33 minutes.

A Sunderland man, Andy, said: “It was on my bucket list to win an event in my home town and I’ve done that now.”

Andy said a lot of training goes into taking part, but he had suffered a bit of a set back with injury recently.

He said: “We got really good weather for it. It was a bit windy on the seafront, but other than that it was great.”

Thousands of runners from near and far made their way to Wearside to take part in the 2018 Run Sunderland Festival this weekend.

More than 4,000 people signed up for the Siglion Sunderland City Half Marathon and 10K, including some of the leading club runners in the region and hundreds of fun runners and participants were raising money for good causes.

The official event charity this year was St. Benedict’s Hospice.

The theme for this year’s event was #runwiththetide, as the city builds up to hosting the Tall Ships Races in July.

Among the runners were a group of sail trainees who are preparing to join a crew on a tall ship and will be tackling the 10K as part of their training.

The 2018 Run Sunderland Festival was organised by former Olympic athlete Steve Cram’s company Events of the North, in partnership with Sunderland City Council and Active Sunderland.