The Great North Run 2022 will go ahead, but this year will be a very different one for the world famous event, following the death of The Queen.
News arrived shortly after 6.30pm on Thursday that Her Majesty had passed away. Buckingham Palace announced the death of Her Majesty's passing in a statement which read: 'The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon. The King and Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral and return to London in the morning."
On Friday, in the aftermath of The Queen's death, a period of national mourning began, with the weekend's Premier League and Football League fixtures called off and events like the Last Night of the Proms cancelled, as TV channels cleared their schedules to focus on coverage of The Queen.
After Thursday's sad news, a big question mark hung over the Great North Run and whether it would go ahead as planned. Shortly after noon on Friday, organisers confirmed it would happen but would be a 'toned down' affair, with the statement paying tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and adding: "We would encourage runners to communicate their respect for the Queen in any way they feel appropriate, and look forward to welcoming runners from all over the UK and the world to the North East this weekend."
Will the Great North Run be on TV?
Yes, but it won't be on BBC One. he BBC have made major changes to its schedule since the announcement of The Queen's death on Thursday evening, with a large chunk of BBC One programmes shifted to BBC Two.
It's tradition for the Great North Run to air on BBC1, with its highlights package following on BBC2 in the evening.
Initially, it was revealed that the Great North Run would be on at 10am on BBC One on Sunday, before switching to BBC Two. However, late on Saturday, it was confirmed that full coverage of the Queen's coffin leaving Balmoral will take over BBC One, with the Great North Run airing on BBC Two for a shorter period of time, from 10am-12.15pm.
Coverage with then switch to BBC iPlayer from 1-2pm to give viewers a chance to see all of the fun runners in action.
A BBC spokesperson told ChronicleLive on Friday afternoon that any further schedule change information would be posted on the @bbcpress Twitter account and on the Media Centre section of the BBC website, where schedule changes are being updated on a regular basis.
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