THE 27th Great North Run may have raised a record amount for charities.

Organiser Nova International estimates that fun and celebrity entrants have netted more than £10m for 350 good causes through the sponsorship of their efforts.

It is also thought that the 13.1-mile race may have been watched by a record number of spectators, although crowd numbers along the route have yet to be finalised.

Martin Lel won a thrilling battle with fellow Kenyan runner Sammy Wanjiru to win the men's title by eight seconds with a mark of 60mins 10secs.

In the women's race, world marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe, who was taking part in her first competitive race since giving birth to her daughter Isla last January, was beaten into second place by the American Kara Groucher in the elite women's race.

Radcliffe, 33, who has won the race three times, was cheered enthusiastically by the crowds lining the streets.

She said: "My pride's taken a little bit of a bashing. I came out here wanting to win the race, but it is good to be back."

In the wheelchair races, South African Ernst Van Dyk beat Kurt Fearnley of Canada to finish in a time of 42mins 36secs, while in the women's event, Britain's Shelly Woods cruised to victory ahead of Italian Francesca Porcellato in 50mins 36secs.

Nova spokesman David Hart said: "It has gone very well and we are absolutely delighted. It has been a fantastic day and a fantastic advert for the region.

"We think more than £10m has been raised for charity, which would be a record. It was our biggest celebrity field. We had over 100 running from sport and entertainment.

"It all went very smoothly and it is testament to the 2,500 volunteers including our highest profile athlete, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, who won the wheelchair race eight times."

Mr Hart said that some runners had needed hospital treatment but there had been no reports of any fatalities - two years ago four runners died.

Of the 50,000 who registered to run, 36,000 turned up -in line with the trend of recent years.

Mr Hart said some would-be runners may have decided to follow advice and not take part if they did not feel fit and prepared.