A majestic performance by Haile Gebrselassie in the men’s race and Berhane Adere in the women’s race saw the 30th Great North Run dominated by athletes from the African country of Ethiopia.
Adere stretched the field in typical North East blustery weather conditions to clock a time of 1hr 8 mins 50 seconds to come home comfortably clear of the other athletes.
The men’s race saw the first appearance of 37 year old Gebrselassie, who amazingly had never competed in one of the world’s most famous half marathons previously. The athlete who seems to compete always with a smile of white teeth, tore away from the rest of the field on the undulating course. He seemed unfazed by the wet and windy weather, as he picked the pace up and motivated himself to try and challenge the the course record of 59mins and 5 seconds. Unfortunately, he just fell short of this, finishing in a time of 59 mins 33 seconds.
Many would ask, how much longer can an athlete dominate events, where in some cases he is competing against athletes almost half his age. The greatest thing about this amazing athlete is how humble he seems to be, thanking the supporters and waiting for his fellow athletes to cross the line.
Will we ever see an athlete like this again ???
