The UK’s Great North Run has just opened its Moving Image Comission for 2012: a £30 000 budget to make new work in response to the world’s largest half-marathon. More info here:
http://www.greatnorthrunculture.org/moving-image/apply
I just discovered in the archives a film from 2007 by director Suky Best which focuses on the stories and experiences of individual runners.
ANIMATEDDOCUMENTARY.COM 
I wonder how many artists ever engage in the ‘politics’ of the great north run, how the organisation increases it’s entry fees each year and how regular runners eventually drop out as they get tired of the application process (no sign of reciprocal loyalty by the organisers) and the amount they have to shell out, the traffic jams at the end (carbon footprint here is immense). The paradox of charity runners collecting for MRI scanners etc for their local NHS hospital when the whole thing is a marketing exercise for private health care…and if they did how likely would they be to get that big juicy carrot?