Great Midlands Fun Run

Known until a few years back as the Sutton Fun Run, the Great Midlands Fun Run has been a yearly event in Sutton Coldfield since the late 70s/​early 80s.
Usually held on the last Sunday in May/​first Sunday in June, the Fun Run is perhaps the main event of the Sutton social calendar. The town comes to a standstill for the morning as a few thousand people run and walk the 8.5 miles from the Parade, up and round by the Town Hall, down Clifton Road, along Monmouth Drive and into the park, through the park to Four Oaks gate (involving a climb up the very steep ‘Cardiac Hill’) and back down the Lichfield Road into Sutton. If people aren’t running, they line the streets and paths cheering on their friends, family and everyone else. Some kind souls even set up water stations. I ran it one year and a bloke whose garden backed onto the route had a hose set up from his garden wall, giving anyone who wanted it a nice brief shower.
As well as all the money it raises for charity (there’s always someone pushing a bed round or something of that ilk), this is one event that brings the whole of Sutton Coldfield together and long may it continue to.