Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola claimed the men’s title in 59:58 at the Great North Run half marathon on Sunday.
Mohamed Farah, one of Britain’s all-time greatest athletes, finished fourth in the final race of his career the the half marathon from Newcastle to South Shields.
Tamirat made some amends for his failure to retain his world marathon title 14 days earlier.
Alongside Briton Mohamed Farah, the smooth-running Ethiopian led a group of seven athletes at 5km (14:11), then pressed on as the group climbed to the highest point of the course at five miles.
Then, on the downhill dual carriageway stretch, he showed the form which deserted him in the closing stages of the Budapest marathon.
His 4:27 mile to seven broke all but Bashir Abdi, then he cranked it up to 4:20 and was 10 seconds up on the Belgian, who himself was 30 seconds ahead of Ethiopia’s Muktar Edris.
Tamirat’s pace slowed as the course climbed, but he still pulled away to dip under one hour. Bashir was second in 1:01:20, while Muktar was third in 1:01:54.
Farah was fourth in 1:03:28. He later told the BBC: “ITs very emotional. There were was a lot going through my mind”.
“All I know is running,” declared the 10-time global track gold medallist in his post-race interview. “That’s what made me happy for so many years.”
Source : Ethiopian Monitor
