If there were a half-marathon for minimalist composers, who would you expect to win? It is easy to imagine John Adams sprinting out of the blocks and burning out too quickly, while Philip Glass and Steve Reich go round and round in circles. But it would be a good bet that Michael Nyman, whose compositions jog along at a steady, unyielding tempo, should retain enough stamina to cross the finishing line first.

The 30-minute, 10-part suite 50,000 Pairs of Feet Can't Be Wrong was commissioned to mark the Great North Run on September 30. The piece has been developed in association with a team of sports scientists at Leeds Metropolitan University, and maps out a musical depiction of the physical and emotional demands of a 13-mile run.

Scored for Nyman's amplified ensemble, the arrangement loosely reflects the development of the race, starting out as a jostling mass and becoming increasingly distended as it goes along. The initial movements establish an exuberant, carnival atmosphere which gradually settles into a concentrated, dream-like reverie. At the half-way stage Nyman introduces a parodic Mozartian march, as if to indicate the point at which the fancy-dress fun-runners lapse into an ungainly lope.

This is not the first time Nyman - an avid Queens Park Rangers fan - has written on sporting themes, and the new work is prefaced with a couple of the composer's football commissions. Beckham Shoots Nyman Scores borrows its rhythm from the burbling cadences of commentator John Motson; After Extra Time is a fanfare composed for the 1996 European Championships, which degenerates into an intimidating throb of hooligan saxophones but goes on so long you wish it could be decided on penalties. A perfunctory solo run-through of extracts from Nyman's best-known film music completed a comprehensive portrait of the loneliness of the long-distance pianist.