(30 Mar 2026, 6:13 pm)Adrian wrote This is a must for me.

It introduces too much risk by trying to have a running day in amongst folk aimlessly walking around a market to do their shopping etc. Although space would still be relatively limited on a Sunday, you'd at least have hard-standing for half a dozen buses. It's a good option.


This has to be the more ambitious option, but it does introduce a couple of challenges.

You'd need to try and get Bents Exhibition Park, ideally, as the soft car parking (the recreation park) you're referring to is about 4x the size of what they use at Seaburn, therefore is unlikely to be anywhere near capacity and would look relatively poor. The exhibition park is roughly the same area, properly fenced, and has plenty facilities close by.

The biggest challenge is of course the weather. There's no way you could take a gamble in running from a soft standing base in March time. It's also out of season, so you're running events when the fewest people are likely to be there. For me it's absolutely crucial to expand the scope of these events to more people, and ultimately that's the basis you're likely to access funding.

I do like the idea of running proper routes and incorporating the ferry terminal though.


I don't think NEBPT have attended in a while, but certainly others from up here do. I think we've also seen with the Metrocentre, what happens when you try and run events on the same weekend.

WHTT's Leyland 5x event is in it's infancy compared to what the Metrocentre was, yet because it's organised like clockwork, a lot of people from our region like to spend the day or weekend over there.

Plus, ideally, the NEBPT should be looking to support those events in hope of obtaining reciprocal support in return.