It’s almost here! 2021’s Ørsted Great Grimsby 10K ready to return to our streets

Runners are preparing to pull on their trainers for this year’s Ørsted Great Grimsby 10K race.

After being a virtual race last year due to the pandemic, the much-loved race will return as a physical event on Sunday 18 July, but with several measures in place to ensure the race is COVID-Safe.

The race, which will be one of the first major events to take place in the borough since the pandemic began, sold out within a matter of days.

Race organisers Tape2Tape have put a lot of time and consideration into analysing all aspects of the race to make it as COVID-Safe as possible and have strictly followed the official UK Athletics guidance and advice from North East Lincolnshire Council’s Event Safety Advisory Group and Public Health.

Main sponsor Ørsted has also agreed to support the race for the next three years, meaning it can keep coming back bigger and better.

Lauren Little, stakeholder advisor at Ørsted, said: “We’ve seen the Great Grimsby 10k go from strength to strength and it’s become a much-anticipated date in the community calendar for many people. As well as bringing people together, the event has raised much needed funds for local charities to allow them to continue to deliver important community services. We’ve been very fortunate to have been able to meet and work alongside some fantastic people over the years and we’re really looking forward to the next three!”

Neil and Nicola Pattison, Tape2Tape directors, said: “We are absolutely delighted that Ørsted has very kindly agreed to support the race for a further three years until 2024. This provides the event with great stability and will allow us to continue to make this a firm fixture in the North East Lincolnshire events calendar.

“It will also mean that we can continue to work with and support many local charities and community groups through the race.”

Any runner who supported the race this year will be offered a 10 per cent discount off next year’s race, which will take place on Sunday 5 June 2022. Early bird entries will open on this year’s race day on Sunday 18 July and will run into Sunday 1 August.

The measures put in place to ensure this year’s event can go ahead in a safe manner:

• Staggered start between 9am and 11am every two minutes – removing the mass gathering in the Town Hall Square area seen in previous years with two wave starts, and people will be spread out across the 10km route.
• Reduce entry capacity by 50 per cent, with 2,000 participants.
• Sanitiser stations at toilet facilities and the start and finish line.
• Some stalls in People’s Park. Activities will return next year.
• Race results will be based on chip times, not first past the finish line due to the staggered start. Winners will be recognised and awarded at a later date.

There will be two water stations. One at the route’s halfway point (bottled water) and one at the 8.5k mark (paper cups). People are strongly encouraged to bring their own water. There will be bottle bins to use after the first water station and paper cup bins after the second. Please only place the correct items in them. If you miss them, you will have to carry your bottle to the finish.

With the race headquarters at Grimsby Town Hall closed this year due to the pandemic, there will be no on-the-day facility to replace forgotten or lost race numbers. People must bring their number with them or they cannot run.

Turn up for your allotted start time. Do not turn up early and hang about at the start line area. Please bear in mind the route road closures from 8am when travelling to the start.

All race transfers have now closed.

A round-up of road closures on the day:

Closures from 6am to 11.10am:

• Town Hall Square
• Town Hall Street
• Doughty Road (No access to Moss Road)
• Pasture Street
• Upper Burgess Street

Closures from 8am to 11.30am:

• East Street
• Osbourne Street

Closures from 8am to 11.20am:

• Abbey Road
• Abbey Park Road
• Bargate – up to and including Nunns Corner Roundabout

Closures from 8am to 11.40am:

• Scartho Road (A1243) – up to and including Scartho Fork Roundabout
• Louth Road (A1243) – up to and including Louth Road Roundabout

Closures from 8am to 12.30:

• Toll Bar Roundabout (A16)
• New Waltham Bypass (A16) – up to and including the Low Farm Roundabout
• Peaks Parkway (A16) – up to Welholme Road
• Weelsby Road (A46)
• Welholme Road
• Park Drive to the finish line at People’s Park.

Please note all streets that are connected to a closure with no alternative access route will be closed by default.

The Mayor of North East Lincolnshire, Councillor David Hasthorpe, will officially start the race with an air horn.

This year’s race is being sponsored by Ørsted, North East Lincolnshire Council, Young’s, NAVIGO, ENGIE, North East Lincolnshire’s Clinical Commissioning Group, Dalkia, St Hugh’s Hospital, Freshney Place, Jembuild and Lincolnshire Co-op.

You can follow the Ørsted Great Grimsby 10K using #GY10K on social media for news and race photos:

Facebook: Tape2TapeEvents

Instagram: @tape2tapeuk

Twitter: @Tape2TapeEvents