Great North Run - Priority Entry

Hi Guys,

 FYI, I received an email yesterday from Bupa advising that they are starting an opportunity for 2010 finishers to become members of the Bupa Great North Run.

Membership will guarantee entry to the Great North run for 2011, 2012 and 2013 (excludes entry fee)

Membership will be allocated on a first come, first served basis and enrolment will open at 9.00 on 25th November closing on 31 December 2010, or earlier if maximum limit reached.

2011 entry prices are as follows:

Bupa Great North Run Three Year Membership £42.00
Bupa Great North Run 2011 UK entry £46.00 (Total: £46.00 + £42.00 = £88.00)
Bupa Great North Run Overseas entry £75.00 (Total: £75.00 + £42.00 = £117.00)

Bupa Great North Run membership benefits:-

  • Guaranteed Entry to Bupa Great North Run
    One guaranteed entry to the 2011, 2012, 2013 Bupa Great North Run (excludes entry fee)
  • Free Entry to the Bupa Great North Run Sport & Fitness Show
    4 free tickets to visit North East’s premier sport and fitness show, including a free serving of pasta for each ticket holder
  • Special Great Run Partner Offers
    A range of special offers from Great Run partner sponsors
  • Great Run Member Newsletter
  • Exclusive Bupa Great North Run Membership Card
  • Exclusive Bupa Great Run Quick Dry Sport T-shirt (RRP £19.99)
    100% textured polyester with improved breathability
    "Wicking effect" moisture control
    Exclusive Great Run print

Comments

  • So we can now pay even more cash to the big corporation who run the most over-crowded and over-rated race in the country?

       

    Hmmm, let me think image

  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭

    Bargain! image

    Not.

    I'd rather do a local race.

  • This isn't new, though is it?  Haven't they had this scheme for a while now?

    Still a rip-off though.  Overhyped event IMO, but they'll still have lots of takers.

  • Having fallen for the hype previously, I can definitely agree this race is master of it's own publicity but not a lot else.  
  • WHOA how expensive is that!!! Why is it that everyone just want to do GNR or VLM????
  • They are the big televised ones though arent they ?

     I've done the GNR once, and it was a nice jog round, but just too busy for racing it. And the monopoly on accomodation is quite sneaky too.

  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭

    Because they are hard to get into, EE!

    Any fool knows that a race you can just ENTER and get a PLACE in is not worth doing.  Where's the cachet in doing something like that?

  • £6.70something per MILE?

    I find it astonishing that anybody would do this.

    It's a congested start with walkers in the first mile, about 10 miles of tedious suburbia, a fun finish along the sea front and a massive queue to get the Metro back.

    Objectively, it's an awful race.

  • Yeh, like some else said its not a new thing.  I did the GNR 2009 and got the e-mail thingy saying exactly the same thing.  I didnt take up the opportunity for a few reasons, one being i was getting married on that weekend in 2010 among the other reasons mentioned
  • The Great North Raping.

  • The £42 is only guaranteeing you a place.  You still have to pay the entry fee on top.

    I did GNR this year and as I was plodding around the one thing that stayed in my head was 'never again'  The race itself is ok.  Not scenic but good support from the locals.  As was said before, monopoly on accomodation was horrific, travel to the start and back from the finish was horrendous (purely down to volume of people).  In the end it took me just as long to get back to Newcastle as it took me to run to South Shields.  It would have been quicker for me to run back image

    As I have no desire to run GNR again, I won't be taking them up on the offer image

  • The only reason I do this race is it is on my doorstep. Like for like, I've had to travel for every other HM, so that's fuel, accommodation, race entry - it works out cheaper to do the GNR. I wouldn't buy the membership though and if I didn't get in through the ballot, wouldn't be too bothered.

    I had a clear run this year, so the race itself was decent for me.

  • Did it this year as its one of those iconic events.

    wont be doing it again for all of the reasons listed above

    Its a fun running, comedy outfit, sob story charity fest. Nowt wrong with that if thats your bag, but I can get a hell of a lot of racing miles done for that kind of money by supporting grass roots club events.

  • I've done the GNR now for the last 7 years and will keep doing it as its a local race and i couldnt bare to watch it on tv and not run it. but the price is ridiculous and during this years run (the biggest yet) there was, at no point, a moment when the crowds thinned and you could switch off and run your own race. instead i spent 13.1 miles having to focus on the hundreds of feet, bodies and bottles that occupied every inch of tarmac. Next year itll be a steady warm-up run to the keilder marathon.
  • it's interesting to see everyones views on this one as I was actually considering doing it next year hmmmm
  • Even the Leeds HM is only £20 and thats got all the usual ingredients for bumping the price up, ie charity/council/city centre road closures etc etc.

    Why anyone would want to pay £42 to guarantee that they get to spend another £42 three times for a pretty average course is baffling.

    So thats a minimum of £56 per race for a HM and thats if you actually do all three. Whos to say you wont get injured, be ill, lose interest etc in the meantime. Only run two races and your entry fee has bumped up to £63 per race. Runonly one and you've forked out £84 for one race.

    You can run 10+ races for that......

Sign In or Register to comment.