EN
TRACEY BECOMES ONE IN A MILLION AT BUPA GREAT NORTH RUN
It started with Mark Knopfler raising hairs on the back of the neck with the opening strains of Local Hero at the stunning Great North Run Million Opening Ceremony on the packed banks of the Tyne on Thursday night.
And the countdown to the one millionth finisher in the world’s biggest half marathon came to a fitting conclusion with an unsuspecting local heroine crossing the finish line and stepping into the history books at the end of the 2014 Bupa Great North Run at South Shields.
Tracey Cramond had just one concern when she set off from home in Darlington early on Sunday morning. “All I was thinking about was getting to the start line in time because of all of the road closures,” she confessed.
A 51-year-old grandmother who works as a buyer for the NHS and who was running to raise money for Butterwick Hospice in Stockton, Tracey gave little thought to the prospect of becoming the millionth finisher in the 33-year history of the Great North Run.
“I was aware that there was going to be a millionth finisher this year,” she said, “but, probably like everyone else who ran today, I didn’t for one minute expect that it would be me.
“I’m just very proud that I could be the millionth Great North Run, that I’m representing the 999,999 who have gone before.
“I’m just a local girl from Darlington. I have two grown up children and two grandchildren. I would expect that my family will know about it now.
“My son-in-law, Danny, was supposed to be my wingman today but he came down with a nasty chest infection and couldn’t run. He’ll be sitting in front of the television watching it all.”
Tracey and her family – daughters Talia, 28, and Stephanie, 24, and grandchildren Aidan, five, and Logan, three – can expect rather more than 15 minutes of fame.
As soon as she was identified as the one in a million, Tracey was rushed to meet Great North Run founder and chairman Brendan Foster and Lord Sebastian Coe, vice president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, to be receive a special million runner gold medal.
“They’re two amazing people,” she said. “Seb’s a great guy, a national treasure. And Brendan’s a lovely chap too – very nice.”
The same could be said of Tracey, who was running her second Great North Run.
“I ran last year for my mum, who passed away in the June, and I was running this year for the Butterwick Hospice in Stockton, a charity that do amazing work for local people and for people outside the area,” she said. “They have a superb children’s hospice.
“I have no idea of what time I ran today and I really couldn’t be bothered. I was just wanting to finish.“
In doing that, Tracey followed another north-easterner into the history books, Tynesider Mike McLeod having won the first Great North Run in 1981.
“I think it’s wonderful that someone like Tracey is our millionth runner,” said Foster, the north-east running hero who came up with the brainchild of the Great North Run. “All she thought about when she woke up in Darlington today was running in the race and now she’s in the record books as the millionth Great North Runner.
“When we started the race in 1981 it was a bit like Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams -‘If you build it, they will come.’ Well, we built it and they came – a million of them.”
– See more at: https://www.greatrun.org/News/Article.aspx?nid=600#sthash.IkfZQMH6.dpuf
Source: BUPA GREAT NORTH RUN
07 Sep 2014 | tagged in: Athletics
It started with Mark Knopfler raising hairs on the back of the neck with the opening strains of Local Hero at the stunning Great North Run Million Opening Ceremony on the packed banks of the Tyne on Thursday night.
And the countdown to the one millionth finisher in the world’s biggest half marathon came to a fitting conclusion with an unsuspecting local heroine crossing the finish line and stepping into the history books at the end of the 2014 Bupa Great North Run at South Shields.
Tracey Cramond had just one concern when she set off from home in Darlington early on Sunday morning. “All I was thinking about was getting to the start line in time because of all of the road closures,” she confessed.
A 51-year-old grandmother who works as a buyer for the NHS and who was running to raise money for Butterwick Hospice in Stockton, Tracey gave little thought to the prospect of becoming the millionth finisher in the 33-year history of the Great North Run.
“I was aware that there was going to be a millionth finisher this year,” she said, “but, probably like everyone else who ran today, I didn’t for one minute expect that it would be me.
“I’m just very proud that I could be the millionth Great North Run, that I’m representing the 999,999 who have gone before.
“I’m just a local girl from Darlington. I have two grown up children and two grandchildren. I would expect that my family will know about it now.
“My son-in-law, Danny, was supposed to be my wingman today but he came down with a nasty chest infection and couldn’t run. He’ll be sitting in front of the television watching it all.”
Tracey and her family – daughters Talia, 28, and Stephanie, 24, and grandchildren Aidan, five, and Logan, three – can expect rather more than 15 minutes of fame.
As soon as she was identified as the one in a million, Tracey was rushed to meet Great North Run founder and chairman Brendan Foster and Lord Sebastian Coe, vice president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, to be receive a special million runner gold medal.
“They’re two amazing people,” she said. “Seb’s a great guy, a national treasure. And Brendan’s a lovely chap too – very nice.”
The same could be said of Tracey, who was running her second Great North Run.
“I ran last year for my mum, who passed away in the June, and I was running this year for the Butterwick Hospice in Stockton, a charity that do amazing work for local people and for people outside the area,” she said. “They have a superb children’s hospice.
“I have no idea of what time I ran today and I really couldn’t be bothered. I was just wanting to finish.“
In doing that, Tracey followed another north-easterner into the history books, Tynesider Mike McLeod having won the first Great North Run in 1981.
“I think it’s wonderful that someone like Tracey is our millionth runner,” said Foster, the north-east running hero who came up with the brainchild of the Great North Run. “All she thought about when she woke up in Darlington today was running in the race and now she’s in the record books as the millionth Great North Runner.
“When we started the race in 1981 it was a bit like Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams -‘If you build it, they will come.’ Well, we built it and they came – a million of them.”
– See more at: https://www.greatrun.org/News/Article.aspx?nid=600#sthash.IkfZQMH6.dpuf
