Team Zentia Win AJ Bell Great North 10k Business Challenge

Zentia have been announced as winners of the Business Challenge at the AJ Bell Great North 10K, giving them official bragging rights as the fastest team in Toon.

The Team Valley based manufacturer, the UK’s market-leading ceiling solutions provider, fielded a team of ten runners in the event on Sunday 2 July. Their four fastest runners – Gary Bailey, Ben Weetman, Lewis Cameron and Chris Gray – all managed to come in under 50 minutes, giving Team Zentia the fastest overall time.

Gemma Smith, From Zentia said, ‘‘Sunday’s run was a fantastic event for us, as soon as we finished, we were already talking about taking part next year – and now we will definitely be there to defend our title!

“As a team we were incredibly supportive of each other’s goals and really spurred each other on to achieve the times we wanted.

“Some team members are taking part in the Great North Run in September too, so this was an ideal opportunity to test their training to date. We weren’t expecting to win the Business Challenge but it was amazing to achieve this as a team”

The winning team will be invited to a presentation of their plaque at Great Run later this month.

Hot on their heels were Clifford Chance in second place, just 10 seconds behind the leaders.  The law firm, who had 23 employees taking part, were all raising money for Nicholls Spinal Injury Foundation, inspired by the motivational speaker and disability advocate Claire Lomas. Claire took part alongside them on the day.

Claire explains, “I spoke at Clifford Chance in March about my own personal journey and challenged them to get a team together.

“They have been amazing and raised over £1000 for the charity, who are doing incredible work.”

In third place was Ryder Architecture, supporting the Newcastle United Foundation, who came in just over two seconds behind Clifford Chance.

Teams from a number of other North East businesses, including Robson Laidler and Rycroft Glenton were represented on the day.

They took part alongside 4,500 others on the new look course that started on the Central Motorway, crossed the Tyne Bridge and went through the city centre, giving runners the opportunity to enjoy the city from a whole new perspective.

General entry for next year’s AJ Bell Great North 10K, set to take place on Sunday 7 July 2024, is now open, with a discounted launch price of just £26 for the next two weeks.

If you’ve been inspired to sign up to run with your colleagues, there is still time to enter a team in the AJ Bell Great North 5k, which will be staged on Friday 8 September as the official opener to the AJ Bell Great North Run weekend.

Your team must have a minimum of 4 people, there is no maximum number of team members and the finishing times of the fastest 4 members will be used to calculate the overall time.

For more information or to sign up today visit greatrun.org/business-challenge