Shop assistant beats Farah in 10,000m fairytale run
South London club athlete triumphs over Olympic champion in Vitality race – just as he had predicted
NOBODY could have forecast club runner Ellis Cross’s shock victory over four-time Olympic champion Sir Mo Farah yesterday – except maybe Cross himself.
Last Friday, when working his day job at a running shop in Surbiton, south London, he surprised his colleague with a bold prediction. “Just casually Cross said, ‘I’ve got the race on Monday, I think I might win it,’” Millie Grice, a fellow retail assistant at Up & Running, told The Daily Telegraph.
She did not give it much thought at the time, especially considering earlier that morning Cross had forgotten whether he had even booked the bank holiday off work for the Vitality London 10,000m.
But, sitting in the shop yesterday watching the footage of Cross outpacing Farah down The Mall, Ms Grice was incredulous: “He told me he was going to win.” For all his confidence at work, when Cross’s alarm went off at 6am and he dragged himself to the train station to join the thousands of fun runners making their way into central London, he could not in his wildest dreams have imagined just how the race was about to play out. He not only achieved the biggest win of his life but also inflicted such an unlikely defeat on Farah that it looks to have hammered the nail in the coffin of his elite running career.
Ordinarily, Cross, 25, would have been working. He did so on Sunday, the day before the race, spending the sixhour shift fitting customers with new running trainers on the bulky treadmill at the shop. But yesterday he made a mockery of the organisers’ decision not to award him a place in the elite field for this race. He had had to pay his own £37 entry fee to take part.
“I’ve just beaten arguably the greatest of all time on the streets of London,” he said. “It is unbelievable. I don’t even have my name on my bib. When I was running round, everyone was calling Mo’s name because they know who he is. No one knows who I am. I’m just a club runner. I was thinking if I could get anywhere near the top five it would be an unbelievable run. I just wanted a hard run out. I wasn’t looking at times and didn’t wear my watch. I haven’t followed the script, have I?”
Although Cross had earned a British Under-23 cross-country vest having won the English national cross-country title, this victory was the biggest of his career. Farah had been expected to triumph with ease, but had Cross for company at the head of the race and the two were locked together entering The Mall. At that point, Cross made light of the sprint finish that Farah so often used to win global titles, surging his way to a four-second victory in 28 minutes 40 seconds and earning £2,000 prize money.
“I didn’t believe it until 20 metres from the line when I thought: ‘I think I might be able to win this race’ and just gave it absolutely everything I had,” said Cross. “I tried to make it quite hard from 2km out because he’s renowned for his finish. He has been all across his career and is difficult to beat in the final stages of a race. When we came around
‘No one knows who I am. I’m just a club runner’
the corner I thought if I took the inside line he’d have to come around me and run further, and I managed to hold on. I’m absolutely delighted.”
Cross remains committed to the day job and and will be back at work today, leading his shop’s social run in what will be a very unconventional recovery day.
He said he would save his winnings and put it towards buying a house, while he also hopes the victory means he will now be able to gain elite entry into races.
“It would be nice wouldn’t it!” he said. “Free entry goes a long way for someone like myself.”
Sport: Pages 1, 4-5