Elite and club riders from the North East of England will compete on December 31 and the event will be live-streamed for those unable to attend.
Some of the North East’s best club runners will line up alongside other top British athletes in Newcastle on New Year’s Eve.
Scott Beattie, fourth at the European Cross Country Championships this month, Morpeth Harriers’ Cameron Boyek and Gateshead Harriers’ Calum Johnson lead the North East challenge in the men’s race.
They will face British 800m medalist Alex Botterill, who will be tested in his first serious road 5km, along with Northern Ireland international James Gormley and Eritrean and Birchfield Harrier up-and-comer Aron Gebremariam.
In the women’s race, Verity Ockenden is expected to compete for the first HogmanHOWAY 5K title, before joining the British team for the World Cross Country Championships in the USA in January.
Ockenden won the Ribble Valley 10km on Sunday and here she will face competition from Irish international Roisin Flanagan, fellow British internationals Izzy Fry and Amelia Quirk, plus reigning British 1500m champion Sarah Calvert.
Local athletes Jasmine Wood (Durham City Harriers), Elisha Tait (Gateshead Harriers) and Lydia Turner (Birtley AC) will also be in the mix.
The brainchild of North East running legend Steve Cram, HogmanHOWAY 5K is sponsored by Develop North PLC and organized by Events of the North, in association with the North East Combined Authority, North East Mayor Kim McGuinness and Newcastle City Council.
Starting and finishing at the Civic Center, the men’s elite race will begin at 7:05 p.m., followed by the women’s race at 7:07 p.m., and both will take place on a flat and fast three-lap course, which offers numerous vantage points for spectators. The massive HogmanHOWAY 5K will begin at 7.30pm, on a route that will take in many local landmarks and includes a loop around the campus of Northumbria University, one of the event’s key partners.
“We’ve assembled an impressive field for the first elite HogmanHOWAY 5K,” Cram said, “and both the men’s and women’s races look to be very competitive and exciting. There are many talented local athletes for the public to cheer on and it will be great to see how they do against some great runners from elsewhere.
“It’s really encouraging that we’ve been able to attract such a strong line-up for elite racing, and I hope this helps establish HogmanHOWAY as an annual feature of the New Year’s Eve program in Newcastle.”
Around 2,000 people are expected to take part in the first HogmanHOWAY 5K, with many starting their New Year’s resolutions early to get fit and raise money for good causes, including the event’s official charity, the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.
Registration closes on December 30. More information here or watch the live stream of the races here…
