The Blaydon Race, live.

Following the song, every ninth of June

The Blaydon Race is a 5.9 mile road race from Newcastle upon Tyne to Blaydon, run every 9 June along the route of the 1862 song 'The Blaydon Races'.

The next race is on Wednesday 9 June 2027. It was first held in 1981, when Dr James Dewar of Blaydon Harrier and Athletics Club created a road race inspired by the journey in George 'Geordie' Ridley's song, and 212 people ran. The club still organises it, and it now has 5,000 places, allocated by ballot.

The officially measured route begins with the ringing of the Blaydon Bell on the Quayside Road, follows Sandhill, Skinnerburn and Monarch Roads and turns onto the Scotswood Road, past the water station and Armstrong's factory. Participants cross the Scotswood Bridge, make a short detour towards the Derwenthaugh Roundabout and run along Chainbridge Road into Blaydon and the finishing field. The roads are fully closed.

Finishers receive the famous Geordie Supper: a ham and pease pudding or cheese savoury stottie, a local Blaydon Race beer, crisps and water, along with the Blaydon Race T-shirt and chip timed results. Bands and drummers play along the way.

It is an evening race, and the roads on the route close from the late afternoon. The story behind it goes back to 1811, when a horse race was held on the land where Blaydon Railway Station now stands, and Ridley first sang the song on 9 June 1862.

If a participant chooses to share the position of the phone they carry, you can follow them live on Livebib. The dot on the map comes from their own phone, not from the organiser's timing, and the official results are the organiser's.