Runners who secured places in this year's Great North Run were shocked to receive an email saying their place had been cancelled after a message was sent out by mistake.
Lets Do This, the official booking partner of the iconic half marathon from Newcastle to South Shields, emailed participants across the county on Wednesday saying "your entry has been cancelled". The race-booking platform which helps runners to secure places in events across the country, including the Great North Run, sent out a message to runners which read, "we'll cancel your booking with no charge."
Alarmed runners were quick to contact the organisation to query the email and confirm whether it was true they had lost their place. And on Thursday, Let's Do This sent out a second email to entrants to say that the cancellation message had been sent out in error.
The email said: "We're sorry. You may have just received an email from us with the subject line: 'Your entry has been cancelled'.
"We’re really sorry - this was sent in error. Rest assured, any bookings you have for upcoming events are still valid.
"There’s no need to contact us unless you need our help with a specific query."
The booking provider also took to Twitter to reassure worried runners. The Tweet read: "Thank you everyone for flagging the email error, apologies this was a mistake.
"Rest assured any upcoming bookings you’ve made are still valid, and there’s no need to contact us unless you do need help with a specific query. Sorry for the confusion - our mistake."
The Great Run Company, which organises The Great North Run, confirmed that anyone who secured a number in this year's event will still have their place.
A spokeswoman for The Great Run Company said: “Unfortunately, an email was sent in error from our booking partner Let’s Do This last night. It went to registered runners in various events and to people within their wider database. The email stated that an event entry was cancelled, it was not specific to which event and carried little to no detail.
“They sent a response less than an hour later to apologise and explain the email was sent in error. We would like to further reassure any customer entered into a Great Run event, including the Great North Run, this is not the case.
"Your entry still stands and we’re looking forward to seeing you on the start line in September.”
The news will come as a relief to runners looking forward to taking part in this year's Great North Run, as it returns to its traditional route this year. This year's event which will take place on September 11, is set to be the biggest ever with 60,000 people taking part.
The race will finish in South Shields once again after the 2021 event was altered to start and end in Newcastle as a Covid-19 safety measure.
