Geremew delighted to notch up hat-trick of 10k victories

TADELE GEREMEW had to call on his vast experience to win yesterday’s North Tyneside 10k Road Race for the third consecutive year.

The annual Easter Sunday contest run from North Shields to Whitley Bay attracted over 2,000 competitors with Geremew, despite being out of action recently due to illness, soon in contention at the head of affairs.

In the early stages along the Fish Quay, the Ethiopa-born athlete was joined by Tyne Bridge duo David Green and Sparrow Morley, Morpeth’s Chris Smith and Evenwood’s John Gifford.

The leading bunch began to break up around Cullercoats Bay as Geremew and Green, running sideby-side, upped the pace after passing through Tynemouth.

The pair were still locked together in the turn into the finishing straight close to St Mary’s Lighthouse but it was Geremew, who won last year in 30min 41secs and in 2015 (30:52), who managed to outsprint his main rival to cross the line with a foursecond cushion. Due to the cold and blustery conditions, overall times were much slower than in previous years but Geremew was still a happy man after recording 33:04.

‘’For me it was very cold so because of that I was very pleased to have won once again’’, said Geremew, who went off to celebrate Easter with fellow Ethiopians in Newcastle. ‘’I like this race very much and it means a lot to me to win it for the third time.”

David Green, meanwhile, in what was his first-ever 10k contest, picked up a nice reward for finishing runner-up.

Green’s Tyne Bridge team-mate, Morley, won the race for third place.

In the women’s race, victory went to Allison Dargie (Tyne Bridge) in 38:09. Morpeth’s Lorna McDonald claimed the runners-up award (39:09) ahead of Wallsend’s Sarah Robson (40:58).