This year's event is due to take place on September 7 and will see participants competing across the 13.1 mile course which starts in Newcastle city centre and passes through Gateshead before ending on the coast in South Shields.

In 2013, organisers claimed that 56,000 participants from over 40 countries took part in the race from over 122,000 applicants, making it the biggest half marathon event in the world.

The Great North Run will become the first mass participation running event to reach one million finishers this year and will be followed by the New York Marathon on November 2, which will also reach the milestone.

The race was founded by Montreal 1976 Olympic 10,000 metre bronze medallist Brendan Foster in 1981 and the winner of the first event was Britain's Mike McLeod, who went on to take the 10,000m silver medal at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984.

Beginning with around 12,000 participants in 1981, the race has featured some of the biggest names in distance running, including current world marathon record holders Wilson Kipsang of Kenya, who won in 2012, and Britain's Paula Radcliffe, winner in 2000 and 2003.

The course record was set in 2011 when Kenyan Martin Mathathi finished the race in 59min 27sec.

Farah, Bekele and Gebrselassie took part in last year's BUPA Great North Run ©Getty Images

























Last year's race featured three of the greatest distance athletes of all-time as double Olympic 10,000m champion and former marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia - winner of the Great North Run in 2010 - battled it out with compatriot and three-time Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele, who also is the 5,000m and 10,000m world record holder.

London 2012 5,000m and 10,000m champion Mo Farah completed the trio of stellar names and the Briton had to make do with second place, finishing behind Bekele, who was competing in the race for the first time.

Veteran Gebrselassie put in a superb performance to come in third, while the women's race was also won by a Kenyan, London 2012 silver medallist Priscah Jeptoo.

The race is televised live on BBC One and across Europe on Eurosport, with a highlights programme being shown in more than 100 countries across the world.

The ballot for the 2014 BUPA Great North Run closes at 12:00pm on February 5 and to register for a ballot prospective click here.

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