PRE-SEASON training has begun early for the North-East’s top women footballers.

Members of Sunderland Women’s Football Club are being put through their paces earlier than usual with a date on the city’s roads their first priority.

The losing Women’s FA Cup finalists and Premier League Northern Division champions have entered the entire squad in the inaugural Bupa Great North 10K.

A successor to the Great Women’s Run – staged in Sunderland for the past three years – the new-look event will be a mixed-sex run over a different course, starting and finishing at the Stadium of Light.

Sunderland coach Mick Mulhern said it was his team’s fitness that played a big part in their successful cup run and promotion.

The build up to the Great North 10K, and the event on Sunday, July 12, wil be a major feature in next season’s fitness preparations.

Sunderland’s players were given tips on the course yesterday by Benita Johnson, a leading Australian middle-distance athlete, and former winner of the Great North Run.

Ms Johnson, now based in Chrester-le-Street, where she is preparing for the European road and track season, said: “The girls are naturally very fit, but although running is a bit different from football, it requires basic fitness.

“Football is, perhaps, more shortsharp explosive sprints, but I know they have been working on their aerobic capacity, and they have still got a month to prepare for the run.”

Thousands of runners, aged 15 and upwards, are expected to line up for the inaugural run.

Entries can be made via greatrun.org/events, or by post to Co-ordinator, Bupa Great North 10K – Sunderland, Newcastle House, Albany Court, Monarch Road, Newcastle, NE4 7YB.