Grantham Running Club take part in the Great North Run from Newcastle to South Shields

Eighteen members of Grantham Running Club took to the start line of the world's largest half marathon, the Great North Run.

True to form, while standing among 60,000 runners, waiting to tackle the 13.1-mile course from Newcastle to South Shields, the heavens opened.

Undeterred after driving three hours to get there, the runners from the plains of Lincolnshire set off towards the iconic Tyne Bridge with crowds of supporters ringing in their ears.

As they took on the undulating course soaking up the incredible atmosphere, it was clear that the weather wouldn't get the better of any of them.

First home was Gavin Potter with a phenomenal personal best of 1:18:57.

Revved up by the enthusiasm and encouragement from the crowds, Gavin used the torrential weather to push himself.

Piers Pye-Watson followed closely in his wake with a time of 1:23:54.

Closely chasing them down, Robin Atter, having done 'The Big Half' the weekend before, was returning from injury and secured his GNR personal best of 1:33:49.

Running the race with Holly Durham, who came in with an impressive 1:34:05, Robin said that the miles just seemed to fly by.

Rachel Hamilton flew in with an amazing 1.37.19 which was just a minute off her personal best.

For Rachel, the weekend started on Saturday with her daughter, Jess, following in mum's rapid footsteps, by completing the mini GNR.

After running his last half marathon somewhat closer to home, in Nottingham last year, Johnny Gilbert shaved six minutes off his personal best after running in at 1:42:40 and paving the way for Balint Beni, who clocked in with 1:46:03.

Carlene Veasey made an incredible time of 1:50:22 after deciding only a fortnight before that she would take on the challenge.

Nursing an iliotibial band syndrome injury in her knee, Carlene used sheer grit to complete the 13.1 miles which was her sole goal for the event.

Considering her limitations, she was thrilled with her time and enjoyed the whole GNR experience.

Running together were Karl Clark - completing with a comfortable 1:51:54 - and Luanne Morton with a new personal best of 1:52:46.

Luanne had a great race, despite the rain and losing an AirPod in a stampede. She ran the last three miles through gritted teeth as she knocked an enormous 11 minutes off her personal best and 20 minutes off last year's time.

Stuart Baty hurled himself into the triple header.

To kick off the weekend, he completed the Quayside 5k on Friday, a misty Town Moor PR on Saturday, followed by Sunday's main event.

Getting his GNR personal best in 2021 on the out and back course, Stuart picked up another milestone for the regular route this year in 1:52:35.

Raising more than £600 for Marie Curie, Emma Duncan took on her fourth, and by far her coldest, GNR.

Driven by the atmosphere along the whole route, Emma managed to get a course personal best of 1:53:34 which scraped off more than eight minutes from last year.

Blighted by a knee injury from the very start, Kev Wallace started to succumb to the strain in the second half of the race.

After being driven for the first seven miles by the fantastic crowd, there was no running away from the difficulty it was causing.

Kev dug deep to get the job done and, considering his struggle, he came in with an impressive 1:55:47.

Taking on his first GNR, Sam Caton was over the moon as he raced in with a time of 02:05:11, a new personal best by more than eight minutes.

Next came Amy Jennison who was thrilled to throw herself over the line in 2:05:24.

Taking on her first ever half marathon event, Amy had decided to go for the most notorious she could find.

Injury threw her off course earlier in the but the whole event managed to fan the flames of determination.

Laura Pigott was next back in a time of 2:28:02, but Tracey Gell was hot on her heels with a completion time of 2:35:43.

After a horrible, wet start, waiting in her wave among the chaos, Tracey was boosted by the amazing support all the way round.

Unfortunately, she didn’t manage a personal best this time as the sheer size of the event meant that Tracey’s wave was so busy with walkers and it became a job to weave in and out of the masses.

Apart from that disappointment, Tracey found the GNR enjoyable and was pleased with her time.

Emma Hopkinson had a novel idea for a mother/daughter outing.

Rather than a relaxing spa day, Emma ran the GNR for the sixth time with daughter, Grace, and the pair came in at 3:17:18 to celebrate Grace's first official event.