Farah claims third place and British record in London Marathon
Sir Mo Farah had to keep his cool and his bottle as he broke the British record by finishing third in a gruelling Virgin Money London Marathon.
The 35-year-old struggled with the pace, the heat and mix-ups over water bottles, but he still beat Steve Jones’ 33-year-old mark by 52 seconds with a time of two hours six minutes and 21 seconds.
Farah, the multiple Olympic and world gold medallist who turned his back on the track last year to focus on road racing, briefly threatened a shock victory in his first serious attempt around the streets of the capital. But having appeared on the shoulders of Eliud Kipchoge and Tola Shura Kitata around the 16-mile mark, Farah quickly dropped off the pace. Kenyan Kipchoge, who won the race in 2015 and 2016, eventually broke Ethiopian Kitata with three miles to go to make it a hat-trick of wins.
An exhausted Farah, who finished just over two minutes behind Kipchoge, admitted: “The pace was fast, I was surprised. I just had to go with it and see what happened, and if you’re gonna die you’re gonna die. Eliud makes it look so easy. I was knackered at 30 kilometres and he just stepped up another gear. But to finish third with a personal best, a British record, on the podium, I can’t do any better than that.” It was the hottest London Marathon on record with the temperature reaching 23 degrees Celsius, although it was estimated to be even hotter on the tarmac. So Farah’s irritation at not being able to find the right water bottle at two drinks stations early in the race was understandable. At one point he was even seen remonstrating with the motorcyclists travelling alongside the runners.
“The drink station was confusing,” he added. “The staff were helpful at the end but at the beginning they were trying to take a picture rather than giving me the drink.”
Meanwhile, Paula Radcliffe’s world record survived as Vivian Cheruiyot won the women’s race.
Once again the conditions told as first Tirunesh Dibaba, of Ethiopia, and then Cheruiyot’s fellow Kenyan Mary Keitany fell away allowing the 2016 Olympic 5,000 metres gold medallist to claim victory in 2: 18:31 – more than three minutes slower than the 2:15:25 Radcliffe ran in 2003.
Lily Partridge was the first British woman over the line in eighth place.
Great Britain’s David Weir, 38, won the men’s wheelchair race for an unprecedented eighth time.