Farah digs in to win sixth Great North Run on trot
At the age of 36, Mo Farah is only getting quicker. A month out from defending a Chicago Marathon title he claimed in a European record time last year, Farah clocked a halfmarathon personal best to win a sixth successive Great North Run.
He was made to work hard for it. Tamirat Tola, Olympic marathon bronze and world silver medallist, appeared to have Farah on the ropes at points in the second half of the race, only for the home favourite to repeat what he has done so many times before and pull clear along the South Shields coast.
Farah’s winning time yesterday was 59min 07sec, with Ethiopian Tola six seconds behind and Holland’s Abdi Nageeye some way back in third. Britain’s Callum Hawkins, who will attempt to upgrade his fourth-place marathon finish from the last World Championships later this month, came fourth.
“I had to dig in deep at around eight or nine miles,” Farah told the BBC. “[Tola] just put the boot down and I had to hold. He didn’t get enough gap, but if he had I would have struggled to come back.”
For much of the early stages, Farah looked content to treat his Sunday-morning exertions as little more than a training run, dictating the race from the front alongside training partner Bashir Abdi.
Indeed, it was only approaching halfway that the race began in earnest, when Tola surged to the front. With Farah and Abdi the only men able to keep pace, a lead group of three quickly formed, before Abdi left the main two to fight it out.
Tola made repeated failed attempts to blow away his British rival – notably increasing the pace at eight and then 11 miles. When Farah hit for home approaching the final mile, the Ethiopian’s race was run.
Having opted to miss the forthcoming World Championships, Farah will instead defend his Chicago Marathon crown next month.
“I’ve got five weeks until Chicago, so it’s good to test myself,” he said. “Things are looking good.”
London Marathon winner Brigid Kosgei made history in the women’s race, running the fastest-ever half-marathon to triumph by more than three minutes.
The Kenyan’s finishing time of 64 min 28 sec was 23 seconds quicker than her compatriot Joyciline Jepkosgei’s world record, although the marginally downhill nature of the Great North Run course means Kosgei’s mark will not count as an official time.
The Kenyan Masai sisters, Magdalyne and Linet, trailed in second and third, while Charlotte Purdue warmed up for her World Championships marathon quest with a fine 68.10 run to finish fifth, putting her third on the British all-time list.
No one ever looked like coming close to denying David Weir an eighth Great North Run triumph in the men’s wheelchair race, while Jade Hall unexpectedly won the women’s race.