Bekele beats Farah to win the 2013 Great North Run

One of the big international contests last weekend was of course the Great North Run in Newcastle in the north-east of England. It is reputed to be the second largest Half-Marathon in the world and this year, some 55,000 people took part.

In the mens elite field, the world record holder for 5,000 and 10,000 metres, Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia was going head to head against the current Olympic champion for those distances, Mo Farah of Britain. In a closely contested race, Bekele just managed to hold off Farah to win the race.

The great Haile Gebrselassie finished third in a time of 1:00:41 setting a new world record time for the over 40 category.

1    KENENISA BEKELE 01:00:09
2    MO FARAH Newham & Essex Beagles AC 01:00:10
3    HAILE GEBRSELASSIE 01:00:41
4    ARATA FUJIWARA      01:02:44
5    TOMOHIRO TANIGAWA 01:02:48
6    RYUJI WATANABE 01:02:58    
7    MARK KENNEALLY Clonliffe Harriers 01:04:06
8    YUKI KAWAUCHI      01:04:08
9    YARED HAGOS    Wallsend Harriers & AC 01:04:14
10    COLLIS BIRMINGHAM 01:04:28 

Other notable finishers in the top 10 were Citizen Runner Yuki Kawauchi from Japan and Mark Kenneally from Dublin.