Organisers have apologised after Great North Run participants spotted a major blunder on their medals.
A total of 60,000 runners picked up gongs on Sunday after completing this year’s half marathon.
However many were quick to point out the huge geographical error on the engraved medals.
The Great Run medals, at first sight, appear to depict a map of the 13.1 mile route, which takes runners from Newcastle to South Shields.
This time, the map engraved on the gongs shows not Newcastle-upon-Tyne and its namesake river, but its local Wearside rival Sunderland.
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Fessing up to the mistake, organisers told Sky News, ‘Wear sorry’, joking that the erroneous map was in fact a signpost to next year’s route.
One person said: ‘How fantastic to bring Sunderland the greatest of the northeast city’s into the Great North Run, hope all you geordie boys and girls wear it with pride.’
Another wrote: ‘Spectacular own goal, the whole map of Sunderland, and the other side has the Wearmouth bridge on it.’
One runner who took part in the run for the first time this year said: ‘My first GNR and I find it funny, what a keepsake, the year they f***ed up.’
In a statement the Great North Run said: ‘As the eagle-eyed have already spotted, the shape of the river on this year’s finisher T-shirt and medal is indeed the River Wear.
‘To answer the rumours that this was the route reveal for next year… sorry to disappoint, it’s a mistake. Lots of people looked very closely at the designs and none of us picked it up.
‘We had Newcastle United stars on the start line and the Stadium of Light on the medal. The Great North Run is truly a celebration of the region, even more so than we had planned.
‘For the 60,000 who ran yesterday, you’ve got the most unique t-shirt & medal in Great North Run history, a keepsake that we’ll be talking about in 44 years’ time.’
The run’s founder, Sir Graham Foster admitted he ‘should have noticed’ the mistake and promised organisers would ‘brush up on our geography’ in time for next year’s event.
He said: ‘I loved the designs for the medal and t-shirt, spent ages marvelling at them, and never spotted the mistake, even when we hung it in Fenwick’s window.
‘I’ve lived on the River Tyne my whole life and I should’ve noticed, but if I’d run the Great North Run yesterday, I’d still be wearing my medal with pride.’
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