Former Sunderland manager Peter Reid to run the Great North Run for the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation - aged 70!
Former Sunderland manager Peter Reid is raising funds for the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation by running this year’s Great North Run.
Former Sunderland manager Peter Reid will take part in this year’s Great North Run just months after celebrating his 70th birthday as he joins a team of runners raising money for the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.
Reid became a popular figure during his seven-year spell in charge of the Black Cats as he guided Sunderland to the Division One (now The Championship) title on two separate occasions before securing consecutive seventh placed finishes in the Premier League in 2000 and 2001. During that time, Reid’s pieced together the iconic Niall Quinn-Kevin Phillips strike partnership and landed memorable Tyne-Wear derby wins against Newcastle United that included consecutive 2-1 wins on Tyneside.
The latter of those victories came against a Magpies side managed by Sir Bobby Robson as Reid claimed a win against his former England manager just over 13 years after he had featured under the managerial legend in the Three Lions’ World Cup campaign in Mexico. Last month marks the seventeenth anniversary of Robson’s passing following a long and brave battle with cancer - but he had already cemented a considerable legacy in the form of the foundation in his name. Described by the former Barcelona and PSV Eindhoven manager as ‘his last and greatest team’, the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation has already raised over £28.5m and a planned £30 million purpose-built cancer clinical trials centre at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital has moved a step closer over the last week.
Reid has now joined the efforts to raise further funds to aid research and to find more effective ways to detect and treat cancer by signing up for this year’s Great North Run - and he described taking on the challenge will ‘be an honour’ as he runs in the name of his former England manager.
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‘He was a wonderful man’ - Peter Reid on Sir Bobby Robson
Reid said: “I last did the Great North Run when I was at Sunderland. In fact, I think I wore a red and white shirt with a monkey’s head on the back to wind up the Newcastle fans! I also started the run alongside Sir Bobby, which was very special. I’ve done a few 10ks over the years but when I heard about The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, and everything it’s trying to do building this new institute, I wanted to help.
“My 70th feels like a landmark, and I quite like working towards goals so this felt right. You read so many things about cancer and obviously we lost Sir Bobby and more recently Kevin Keegan to it. Really, you think, there but for the grace of God go I. My daughter had cervical cancer and thankfully her treatment was successful but cancer is something we all live with. We can fight against cancer together and I’m proud to be running for Sir Bobby’s Foundation. He was a wonderful man, a really warm man who was always great with me. It will be an honour to do the Great North Run for his charity.” Donations to Reid’s fundraising efforts can be made via a JustGiving page here.
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