Scott Beattie and Verity Ockenden lead line-ups for first HogmanHOWAY 5K

Elite and club runners from the North East of England will race on December 31 with the event streamed live for those who can’t make it.

Some of the North East’s best club runners will line up alongside other leading British athletes in Newcastle on New Year’s Eve.

Scott Beattie, who was fourth in the European Cross Country Championships this month, Cameron Boyek of Morpeth Harriers and Calum Johnson of Gateshead Harriers head up the North East challenge in the men’s race.

They will take on British 800m medallist Alex Botterill, who will test himself in his first serious road 5km, along with Northern Ireland international James Gormley and up-and-coming Eritrean and Birchfield Harrier Aron Gebremariam.

In the women’s race, Verity Ockenden is expected to challenge for the first HogmanHOWAY 5K title, before joining up with the British team for the World Cross Country Championships in the USA in January.

Ockenden won the Ribble Valley 10km on Sunday and here 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 athletics legend Steve Cram, the HogmanHOWAY 5K is sponsored by Develop North PLC and is being organised by Events of the North, in partnership with the North East Combined Authority, North East Mayor Kim McGuinness and Newcastle City Council.

Starting and finishing at the Civic Centre, the elite men’s race will set off at 19:05, followed by the women at 19:07, with both taking place on a flat and fast three-lap course, offering plenty of vantage points for spectators. The mass HogmanHOWAY 5K will start at 19:30, on a route that will take in many local landmarks and which includes a loop around the Northumbria University campus, one of the event’s key event partners.

“We’ve assembled an impressive field for the first elite HogmanHOWAY 5K,” said Cram, “and both men’s and women’s races look set to be very competitive and exciting. There are plenty of talented local athletes for the crowds to cheer on and it will be great to see how they fare against some great runners from elsewhere.

“It’s really encouraging that we’ve been able to attract such a strong line-up for the elite races, and I hope that this helps to establish the HogmanHOWAY as an annual feature of the New Year’s Eve programme in Newcastle.”

Around 2000 people are expected to take part in the first HogmanHOWAY 5K, with many making early start on their new year’s resolutions to get fit and raise money for good causes, such as the event’s official charity partner, The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.

Entries close on December 30. More info here or watch the live stream from the races here…