(T)racing the Great North Run as a ritual process using GPS mapping

Abstract

The Great North Run witnesses 55,000 plus participants run from Newcastle to South Shields and is an annual ritual for many runners. The event reaches audiences around the world and is well documented by the media, yet the remains of such an event are as much embodied in the memory of a runner. Despite this, memories can be unreliable and forgotten, much like routine daily interactions with familiar environments. This article explores how data gathered using a GPS running watch is employed to reflect on and relive participation in the 2019 Great North Run (GNR) as part of a cyclical process between a body and a digital platform. In doing so, the author uses a structure of ritual process to make a case for how digital data collaborates with the body to reshape, distort and transform experience without detriment to embodied memories. Rather, data augments, enhances and deepens human memory.