Fog and fierce winds on the Tyne didn’t dampen the spirits of our 24 amazing runners in this year’s Great North Run.

Despite the overcast skies, they crossed the finish line with smiles, having raised more than £10,500 (and counting!) to support Action Foundation’s work with refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants.

Sophie, centre, with her parents

Our fastest runner home was Sophie Morris, a Geography student at Durham University, who clocked an impressive 01:26:24. Sophie placed 25th among women in an event with more than 60,000 participants and secured second place in the female under-20 category.

Sophie said:

“The Great North Run experience was so lovely and it was a real pleasure to run it for Action Foundation. I managed to finish it much faster than anticipated and somehow achieved the fastest time in the charity so far! The event was definitely made by the amazing local supporters cheering our names. It created such a lovely atmosphere.”

#TeamActionFoundation’s fastest male runner was Dale Knight, finishing in a brilliant 1:43:28. Dale is no stranger to long distances. In June, he completed his first ultra-marathon The Wall, a gruelling 70-mile challenge across scenic Hadrian’s Wall.

Dale, centre left, with his family

After celebrating with his family and the Action Foundation cheer squad (with cakes, of course!), Dale was still riding a runner’s high, so much that he has already entered the ballot for the 2026 race.

Close behind were two of our return runners: Bryn de Ivey at 01:44:21 and Richard Smyth at 01:47:33.

Our second female home was Alex Rowe in 01:52:35, just three seconds ahead of her friend and Action Foundation’s own Celia Bouch at 01:52:38, who marked her eighth Great North Run.

Paul, centre right, with other runners

Our Lived Experience Team also had a brilliant day. Paul Habineza, an Action Foundation volunteer at Thursday’s Drop-In shared:

“Taking part in my first ever Great North Run in my hometown of South Shields was such an amazing experience. The energy and encouragement from the spectators was incredible. It meant the world to run for Action Foundation. I’m really grateful to the charity for all the hard work that made this possible.”

You can read more about our Lived Experience runners here.

On the fundraising front, Richard Smyth stole the show. As a freelance writer, he ran a crafty campaign on Bluesky, encouraging his friends and followers to donate, raising an incredible £1707 for our charity.

Richard, our top fundraiser

“Action Foundation’s work with refugees and asylum seekers is to me just so fundamentally decent, humane and necessary. I’ve been lucky to have had a pretty safe and stable life so far; the idea of that being upended, of finding myself far from home, far from family, facing the prospect of starting again with nothing, is awful to me – I think it would be awful to anyone who thought clearly about it for five minutes.

We are so grateful to ALL our Action Foundation runners for braving the wind in this year’s GNR. So far, they have raised more than £10,500 to support people seeking sanctuary in the North East. We have a full picture gallery of our runners here.

It’s not too late to help them boost their totals – here’s the link to all their fundraising pages.