The National Lottery and the Great North Run - Legacies beyond the finishing line
25th September 2025
Each September, the Great North Run (GNR) brings together around 60,000 runners, cheered on by thousands more and watched by millions. It’s a day of feel-good fundraising that lifts countless good causes.
Every year the spectacle is extraordinary, the local pride unmistakable. But, as any runner knows, it’s the daily effort that counts, whether training for a charitable race or running a charity, sustaining a community or building a local legacy.
And that’s where The National Lottery comes in, here and throughout the UK. For like the winding River Tyne, National Lottery funds have continuously flowed through the areas linked by this famous run’s 13.1-mile course, supporting all kinds of projects, local places and people.
Warming up
Let’s start with a quick rundown of the Great North Run itself:
- £2.3m of National Lottery funding has boosted the run and its cultural celebrations.
- In 1999, National Lottery funding helped 40,000 run that following year's ‘Millennial’ race.
- In 2010, a grant of £50,000 helped the Great North Run Foundation mark 30 years of ‘the GNR’.
- In 2014, £500k helped celebrate the 'one millionth' person crossing the finish line. The milestone was celebrated with a grand ceremony (Ant & Dec co-hosting).
- In 2019, a grant of £250k helped the Great North Run Foundation celebrate the 40th anniversary of what they dub 'the biggest half marathon in the world'.
- In 2025, The GNR highlighted 13 charities as ‘Great‘ ones to run for – 12 of which have been supported with National Lottery funds over the years.
Putting the region on the map
The Great North Run has been famed for decades. Each year it shows off the eye-catching quaysides of Newcastle and Gateshead to millions of viewers on TV.
The route starts in Newcastle with runners heading over the River Tyne through Gateshead, toward the South Tyneside coast for the finish.
Running totals
The route provides a unique way to see the depth and scale of National Lottery support to good causes.
Across the three areas that the run goes through, nearly 9,000 good causes have been funded since 1995.
Over £680m, awarded to local projects, places and people by the distributors of National Lottery money.
How much is that? Look no further than the sea of people running the GNR each year: every single one of the 60,000 runners represents well over £10,000 each.
13 National Lottery funded highlights for the 13.1 mile Great North Run
Zooming in to each of the three phases of the route, we can glance over a small selection of good causes backed by National Lottery funding distributors since 1995.
Starting with Newcastle-upon-Tyne: over 5,000 good causes have made good use of over £390m. Unsurprising given that the area is more populous than the other two areas combined.
Newcastle old and new
The historical city and the region’s industrial past have been well supported. Highlights include the Great North Museum, The Common Room (previously North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers) and Newcastle Cathedral.
Keep in mind, most of these National Lottery grants are small, but they make a big impact - boosting the present-day work of charities and community organisations like Action Foundation.
Found out more about all of them on the interactive map.
Gateshead greatness
Going across the Tyne Bridge, runners see Gateshead Quayside – transformed after some mega builds received mega millions of National Lottery funding.
Gateshead Millennium Bridge gives people grand views over the river, glimpsing The Glasshouse music venue and The Baltic art gallery.
Overall, nearly 2,500 good causes have shared over £230m. Again, mostly small grants backing local organisations to achieve big impacts - like Society Matters Community Interest Company.
Read about these Gateshead highlights on the map.
South Tyneside’s social side
The route runs through South Tyneside’s residential neighbourhoods where local sports clubs and community hubs abound. Here, nearly 1,500 good causes have shared over £63m.
Sports facilities like Monkton Stadium and clubs like Jarrow & Hebburn Athletics are based at the stadium. Thriving neighbourhood hubs like Brinkburn Community Association. And arts organisations like North Tyneside Steel Band who pop over the river each year to play runners into the GNR’s final mile.
The coastline setting for the GNR’s finish is also home to many funded projects. Examples are South Shields Surf CIC and the heritage green space South Marine Park.
Half marathons are 13.1 miles
Yes, having jogged through 13 highlights, here’s a final sprint through that 0.1 mile.
Small amounts make masses of difference to grassroots, community projects. And, well over half of all grants across Newcastle, Gateshead and South Tyneside have been under £10,000.
One quick example is Bede Burn Primary School, in the shade of Monkton Stadium (shown on the South Tyneside map). The school has had 3 small grants in the past decade to develop an outdoor exercise area and buy outdoor equipment – getting the next generation moving, maybe towards a future GNR.
Those toddlers of South Tyneside, like countless littluns around the UK, benefit each year from money raised for good causes. Money raised by National Lottery players so that charities, communities, local clubs and voluntary organisations across the UK can go the extra mile.
