Prior to 2009, a 10K race had taken place at Roker along the coastline of Sunderland but the event was only open to female competitors; when it changed to permit male participants, it was re-styled as the Great North 10K.

[9] The re-styled Great North 10K run first took place in mid July 2009 in Sunderland and that year it had 4,500 people taking part together with top flight runners from around the world.

[11] The overall winner was Steve Mokoka, the champion half marathon runner from South Africa who completed the course in a time of twenty-nine minutes twenty seconds.

An episode of the Street Barber was also filmed for the BBC's The One Show programme featuring celebrity hairdresser Michael Douglas who was offering to re-style some of the fun runners hairstyles.

[10] Together with Olympic medallist Brendan Foster, Gateshead Council had originally organised fun runs in late 1977; this is believed to have been the onset of these events in the north east.

[15] Several competitors responded positively to this, with Linda Green, a Gateshead council member saying "Thousands of runners sharing the finish line with Europe’s biggest athletes such as Mo Farah, is something they will never forget".

[18] In the inaugural race held in Sunderland in mid July 2009, those taking part included Dan Robinson and Matt O'Dowd, who had represented Britain in the marathon at the Olympics, and Tegla Loroupe the Kenyan long-distance track and road runner.