It was a Great North Run which started unike any other. In place of the usual blaring upbeat music and noisy chatter, the lead-up to North East's famous half-marathon began on a muted note with a minute's silence followed by the National Anthem.
The mass of runners gathered on Newcastle's Central Motorway beneath a giant black banner showing the late Queen and listened to words of tribute ahead of start of the 41st run which this year saw the traditional South Shields finish line reinstated after last year's change.
Last year, the 13.1-mile route was changed to be city-focused to ensure more social-distancing due to Covid concerns. Organisers had been looking forward to a return to normal for this Sunday's run but then came the Queen' s death on Thursday. They cancelled Saturday's lead-up events but, after debate, decided to go ahead with the Great North Run with changes made to the start to show their respects.
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Before the launch - which had 2022 Commonwealth Games 10,000m champion Eilish McColgan performing the honours - race founder Sir Brendan Foster summed it up as "an extraordinary day". He said: "We decided to go ahead and you look around and see the reverence that is already being displayed and it was clearly the right decision.
"I think the North East will show itself as being an area where the life of our great Queen is appreciated and we're thankful for it. She'll be in our hearts and our minds." He added: "I think at the end of the day the North East will hold the Queen in its heart as it always has done."
And runners appeared to be in tune with the mood; feeling that the run was right to go ahead, particularly in light of the £25m it was set to raise for charities. Husband and wife Scott and Julia Baillie had travelled up from North Devon to take part in what was their 16th and 20th respective run, dressed in their usual Red Arrows costumes which they wear each year.
The annual Red Arrows' planned fly-past and display had been cancelled following news of the Queen's death and Scott said he had been checking regularly before setting off north to see if the run followed suit. Out to raise money for their local North Devon District Hospital, Julia said: "I think this is the right decision.
"It's an opportunity for everybody to come together - I think they've set the right tone. This is a massive run for charities and the Queen spent her whole life working for others." The pair had found the mood in the city this Saturday unlike usual years, in the aftermath of the small Great Run events being cancelled.
Scott said: "It was so different. There was no buzz in the city at all - we really felt it yesterday; it was quite sombre - but it's back to usual today. It's like 'this is the Great North Run, let's do it'!"
As the crowds started to grow, the quieter than usual music included the likes of Local Hero and then came the minute's silence followed by the National Anthem. At the end, the assembled runners broke into applause for the Queen.
Paula Balch, who had travelled up from Southhampton to take part in the run, said: "Whatever decision had been made about the race, I'd have understood but I feel it's paid respects and is going ahead in her honour."
And in every other way this was very much the normal Great North Run that Geordies and visitors love, attracting around 57,000 participants from far and wide. As the masses set off on the 13.1-mile route, supporters on both sides of the motorway clapped and shouted out the names they spotted on the runners' vests.
As always, there were moving personal reasons behind people's decisions to run. Elish Gray, from South Shields, was running with her sister Bridget Romano in aid of the Daft As A Brush cancer charity. She told how she did her first Great North Run for a charity in 2019, not knowing at the time that she had a tumour on her spine.
She was diagnosed just the following month - October - with a type of blood cancer and now, having finished her treatment, she says of wanting to raise money for charity: "It's all thanks to the RVI and the Freeman for putting me back together again."
The sisters were also mindful of the occasion, choosing to wear black as a way of paying their respects to the Queen. "I'd already bought a couple of outfits but I wore black," said Bridget who said she is glad the race wasn't cancelled "because of what it gives to charity".
As they set off on their run - "my sister is supporting me through it" said Elish - they said they would be heading straight off afterwards to a party with family who were preparing an afternoon tea to celebrate.
Among the run regulars were The Big Pink Dress man Colin Burgin-Plews - afterwards planning to retire after so many remarkable years of fund-raising - and Harry Singh, of Darlington Harriers, who has run every Great North Run since its 1981 start. Now aged 78, he was waiting to join the back of the running pack, which saw the last of the masses file over the start line just after noon, and said that his 72-year-old wife was already along the route.
There was a multi-faith representation at the start of the run and Mark Rowe, the Bishop of Berwick and acting Bishop of Newcastle, paid a moving tribute to the Queen, telling the assembled runners: "We run this race in tribute to Her Majesty's life and service" and adding that the event was in the same spirit of love and dedication.
Local race relations campaigner Dr Hari Shukla was there too and felt the run to be consistent with the Queen's life and work. "It demonstrates unity," he said. "She believed in unity and peace and we can demonstrate what we learned from her and follow in her footsteps by trying to live together in peace and harmony."
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