❤️💙 WHAT A DAY FOR TEAM MISSEDABEAT Mini and Junior Runner ❤️💙

❤️💙 WHAT A DAY FOR TEAM MISSEDABEAT! ❤️💙

Where do I even start with today?

Seeing so many young people proudly wearing their MISSEDABEAT vests at the Mini and Junior Great North Run was unbelievable.

We had familiar faces returning for their second year, brothers and sisters taking part together, football teams joining us for the first time and so many new faces becoming part of Team MISSEDABEAT.

And the amount of times we heard “MISSEDABEAT!” shouted out around the course and as our runners came through the finish was even more unbelievable.

Every single time I heard it, I felt proud. ❤️💙

⭐ OUR YOUNGEST RUNNERS

Our day started with our youngest runner, Izzy, who is just FOUR years old! 🥹❤️

Izzy took part in the Mini Great North Run supported by her mam Danielle, and the little smile on her face said everything.

She absolutely loved it. What a superstar! ⭐

But Danielle's running duties weren't finished there!

Later in the day, Izzy's brother Lewis was also proudly representing Team MISSEDABEAT in his Mini race — and once again, mam was alongside him.

So while the kids might have collected the medals, I think Danielle deserves one of her own! 🏅

Two Mini races in one day, supporting both Izzy and Lewis from start to finish.

Massive shout-out to Danielle. I think it's safe to say she's earned herself a well-deserved glass of wine tonight! 🍷❤️

⚽ THE WILDCATS WERE OUT IN FORCE!

Hannah and the girls from Newton Aycliffe Youth FC U11 Wildcats — what an incredible effort from every single one of them.

I've been blown away not only by their running but by the fundraising they've done together, and that total is STILL growing.

Whether somebody adds another £1 or another 50p, every single donation matters and helps us continue putting lifesaving equipment into our communities.

And I've got to give a special mention to Hannah and her big sister Jess. ❤️

This was Hannah's first Junior Great North Run, and Jess was right there alongside her, running with her and giving her that encouragement and support all the way.

There's something really special about seeing a big sister doing that for her little sister — motivating her, supporting her and making sure they enjoyed the experience together.

So a massive thank you and well done to Jess. 👏❤️

Hopefully we'll see them both back again next year, with Jess once again alongside her little sister, supporting and motivating her around that course.

Although now Hannah knows what it's all about, Jess might have to work a little harder to keep up next year! 😂🏃‍♀️💨

⚽ DARLINGTON FEETHAMS GIRLS U15s

Then we had Mia and the girls from Darlington Feethams Girls U15s joining us.

Another new group becoming part of Team MISSEDABEAT, and hopefully today is just the beginning of another fantastic partnership. ❤️💙

And I have to give a special shout-out to Grace Birkin.

What a phenomenal run from Grace! 👏🔥

Grace completed the race in an incredible 19 minutes and 59 seconds.

But what probably impressed me just as much was seeing her at the finish.

She looked as fresh crossing that finish line as she did standing at the start! 😂

I'm pretty sure if we'd asked her to turn around and do it all again, she'd probably have been ready to go!

An absolutely fantastic performance, showing her strength and determination alongside her teammates and proudly representing Darlington Feethams Girls U15s and Team MISSEDABEAT.

Massive well done, Grace — what a run! 👏🏃‍♀️❤️💙

🏃‍♂️ A LITTLE BIT OF COMPETITION!

Then came some of our slightly more competitive runners! 😂

Riley, Oscar and Ryan from Newton Aycliffe Juniors U16s.

Riley and Oscar ran for us last year and returned for their second Junior Great North Run, with Ryan joining Team MISSEDABEAT this year.

I think it's fair to say they took things a little more seriously this time around!

But Oscar had another problem to worry about this year...

His younger brother Eddie! 😂

This was Eddie's first time running the event, and he'd already made his intentions very clear:

“I'm going to beat my big brother!” 😂🏃‍♂️💨

So there was definitely a bit of healthy brotherly competition going on!

Eddie was determined, Oscar wasn't exactly going to make it easy for him, and it was brilliant seeing the two brothers out there representing MISSEDABEAT together.

And it wasn't just the boys in the family getting involved.

Earlier in the day, their younger sister Scarlett had completed her race too, alongside her dad Mike. ❤️

So we've got one of those photographs that I think sums up today perfectly — Oscar, Eddie and Scarlett together, three siblings all taking part and representing Team MISSEDABEAT.

That's pretty special. ❤️💙

❤️ A BIG THANK YOU TO MIKE

While I'm mentioning Mike, he deserves a massive thank-you from me personally.

Mike was on hand throughout the day, helping me out and basically manning the ship whenever I needed to disappear, sort something out or even just grab myself a coffee!

When you're trying to organise everything and you're pretty much on your tod, having somebody alongside you who's willing to lend a hand makes a massive difference.

So thank you, Mike.

Having that extra pair of hands and someone alongside me genuinely meant a lot today. 👏❤️

⭐ HENRY — WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES

We also welcomed back Henry for his second year.

Last year, Henry had his dad alongside him supporting him around the course.

This year?

Henry had the confidence to do it on his own. ❤️

For me, that's what events like today are about.

It's not always about the number on the clock.

Sometimes the biggest achievement is having the confidence to do something this year that you couldn't quite do last year.

Well done, Henry. 👏❤️

✨ TEAM MISSEDABEAT... WITH A BIT OF GLAMOUR!

And Mia and Lillian returned to represent Team MISSEDABEAT for their second year too. ❤️💙

And, as always, the girls certainly looked the part! ✨😂

They were absolutely rocking the glitter and bringing a little bit of glamour to Team MISSEDABEAT.

In fact, they were enjoying themselves so much that a few unsuspecting spectators somehow ended up wearing a little bit of the glitter too! 😂✨

Thankfully everyone saw the funny side of it!

The girls were just being girls — having a laugh, enjoying themselves and looking as glamorous as ever while doing it.

That's exactly what we want these days to be about.

Yes, they're there to run and support MISSEDABEAT, but they're also there to have fun, make memories and enjoy the experience together. ❤️

📸 CAPTURING THE MEMORIES

We were also lucky to have Michael from Michael Creative Photography with us today, complete with his MISSEDABEAT pass, waiting at the finish to capture some amazing photographs of our runners coming over the line.

I genuinely can't wait to see them.

Michael will be working his magic on the pictures and we'll share them next week once he's finished his work.

But there was absolutely no chance I was waiting until then before celebrating these kids!

So we'll be sharing some of the photographs we all managed to capture ourselves throughout today.

They deserve to be seen. ❤️

And yes... even I managed to get myself in front of the camera! 😂

I couldn't let the day go by without getting a picture with the Great North Run mascot and our MISSEDABEAT banner.

You've got to get the brand out there somehow! 😂❤️💙

😴 NOT QUITE THE PREPARATION I'D PLANNED!

My own preparation for today wasn't quite as impressive as our runners!

I found myself wide awake at 2:30am, eventually dropped back off around 6am and then woke up with an absolute killer of a headache.

Not ideal preparation! 😂

Thankfully Darren “Daz” Williams came to the rescue and gave me a massive hand getting everything across to Newcastle.

We had the car packed with water, juice, fruit, snack bars, sweets and all the other little goodies we'd put together for the kids.

Believe me, getting all of that there was a bigger job than it sounds! 😂

So another massive thank you to Daz for stepping in and helping me get everything where it needed to be. ❤️

🚩 SOMETIMES A FLAG IS MORE THAN JUST A FLAG...

We also got to put our brand-new MISSEDABEAT flag on display for the first time today.

And something happened that showed me exactly why it's important for us to keep getting the MISSEDABEAT name out there.

I noticed a lady stopping and taking a photograph of our flag.

So naturally, I asked what had caught her attention.

She explained that she was a nurse and wanted to look us up and find out more about what we do.

That started a great conversation.

She told me she was from Birmingham, so I explained that although MISSEDABEAT started here in the North East, our work now stretches much further afield and we've already got around 20 defibrillators in the Birmingham area.

We talked about the work we're doing to make sure defibrillators aren't simply installed and forgotten about, but are checked, maintained and kept emergency-ready.

And I told her about another part of our work that we're incredibly passionate about — continuing to roll out Bleed Control Kits alongside defibrillators.

It was just one conversation with one person.

But she stopped because she saw the flag.

She read what we do.

She took a photograph.

She wanted to know more.

And hopefully she'll go away and remember the name MISSEDABEAT.

That's why visibility matters. ❤️💙

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 AND NOW FOR THE PARENTS...

I can't finish this post without giving a MASSIVE shout-out to every single parent who made today possible.

Some of you were up ridiculously early.

Some were travelling into Newcastle on the first trains of the morning.

Some came in later with the older children.

Some ran alongside their kids.

Some stood and cheered.

Some carried bags, drinks and everything else that comes with taking children to an event like this!

From Mike being there early doors, Danielle completing two races alongside her children, to every mam, dad and family member who got their children there today — thank you.

These young people don't get opportunities like today without parents who are willing to give up their time and support them.

And the kids we had representing MISSEDABEAT today are a total reflection of the people bringing them up.

They were polite.

They were enthusiastic.

They supported each other.

They had fun.

And they represented our charity brilliantly.

So to every parent — thank you.

Thank you for trusting MISSEDABEAT.

Thank you for encouraging your children to support our charity.

Thank you for getting up early, getting on those trains and making today happen.

And thank you for helping us continue to grow the junior section of Team MISSEDABEAT. ❤️💙

🚨 AND NOW... TEAM MISSEDABEAT JUNIORS 2027! 🚨

We're not standing still.

We've already secured places for next year, and we want to start building our 2027 Junior Team NOW.

We had around 25 young people representing us this year.

If we have 25 again next year, fantastic.

If we can grow it, even better.

But judging by the faces I saw today, I've got a feeling quite a few of this year's runners will be back! 😂❤️💙

So if there's a young runner out there who would like to represent MISSEDABEAT at the 2027 Mini or Junior Great North Run, get in touch with us.

Let's get your name down now.

There is absolutely NO pressure to start fundraising today or tomorrow.

This isn't about that.

It's about preparation.

It's about knowing who wants to run, getting names onto our list early and making sure we secure the correct places and age categories for every boy and girl who wants to represent us.

Unfortunately, we had a few young people who wanted to join us this year but contacted us after some of the places and categories had already filled much quicker than we'd anticipated.

I don't want that happening again.

So let's get organised early.

Let's get the names down.

Let's get the right categories allocated.

And then we've got plenty of time to worry about everything else.

Today showed me just how special our Junior Team can become.

So let's not stand still.

❤️💙 LET'S GET TEAM MISSEDABEAT JUNIORS 2027 UP AND RUNNING! ❤️💙

If your child would like to be part of it, drop us a message and let's get their name on the list.

To every runner, every parent, every helper and everyone who donated or supported us today...

THANK YOU.

You were unbelievable.

❤️💙 TEAM MISSEDABEAT 💙❤️

2026... what a day.

2027... who's joining us? 👀🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️❤️💙

But first...

Tomorrow it's the adults' turn! 😂🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️