Who founded the Great North Run, a half marathon taking part in the north east of England every September?

Brendan Foster (born 12 January 1948) is a British former long-distance runner who founded the Great North Run. He won the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the 1976 Summer Olympics, and the gold medal in the 5,000 metres at the 1974 European Championships and the 10,000 metres at the 1978 Commonwealth Games.

In 1977, he helped organise the "Gateshead Fun Run", a pioneering running event. In 1981, Foster founded the Great North Run, an annual half marathon from Newcastle upon Tyne to South Shields. The race became the biggest running event in the UK, and one of the biggest half marathons in the world. By 2014, the race had been run by over 1 million competitors, the first International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) event to pass this milestone. Foster ran in the 2003 event for the first time in many years, after being challenged to do so by radio presenter Ray Stubbs.