Newcastle United star Jacob Murphy will have the honour of being the starter for the AJ Bell Great North Run.
Murphy, along with Nick Pope, will start the half marathon. The famous run starts in Newcastle before continuing down the coast into South Shields.
The two Newcastle United stars will be the first active footballers to start the world famous event, though manager Eddie Howe has previously performed the honour.
In the build-up to the run, Murphy was asked a series of questions.
Out of his teammates in the Newcastle United squad, Murphy backed Sven Botman to come first in a half marathon.
When it came to who would come last, however, Murphy had a more revealing answer.
Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty ImagesJacob Murphy jokes that Fabian Schar is a terrible runner
The Newcastle star selected Botman’s defensive partner Fabian Schar as his pick to come last.
He joked that his Swiss teammate was a “terrible, terrible runner”, largely because his game is based on intelligence.
“Fabian Schar,” he said.
“Terrible, terrible runner because his game is all about intelligence not the running.”
To Schar’s credit, he’s not often put himself in a position where he has to run for any great deal of time for what feels like an age now, such have been the level of his performances under Howe.
What Jacob Murphy has said about starting the Great North Run
When the news was announced, Murphy is quoted as saying: “Me and Popey will see you on the start line. I’ll start practicing my wave.”
The Toon star also expressed a willingness to do the run himself, saying: “I think it would be something I would really like to do once I finish playing. A really good challenge, test myself.
“A new comfort zone to try and get into. Yeah, I look forward to these sort of huge challenges when I finish playing.”
This is the 44th edition of The Great North Run, and 60,000 participants are expected. Around 200,000 people are expected to watch the runners in action.
The route will see runners go across the Tyne Bridge to Gateshead and past the Gateshead International Stadium before continuing on through South Tyneside.
From there, it will feature a mile-long stretch on the seafront to the finish in South Shields.