Sir Mo Farah makes it six Great North Run wins in a row

Sir Mo Farah has claimed his sixth consecutive Great North Run title.
Sir Mo Farah wins the Men's Elite Race during the 2019 Simplyhealth Great North Run in Newcastle. PA Photo. Picture date: Sunday September 8, 2019. Photo credit should read: Richard Sellers/PA WireSir Mo Farah wins the Men's Elite Race during the 2019 Simplyhealth Great North Run in Newcastle. PA Photo. Picture date: Sunday September 8, 2019. Photo credit should read: Richard Sellers/PA Wire
Sir Mo Farah wins the Men's Elite Race during the 2019 Simplyhealth Great North Run in Newcastle. PA Photo. Picture date: Sunday September 8, 2019. Photo credit should read: Richard Sellers/PA Wire

The four-time Olympic champion, 36, was pushed hard by Ethopian Tamirat Tola, but proved too strong in the final mile, finishing the 13.1-mile half marathon course in 59 minutes and six seconds.

Tola, seven seconds behind Farah, crossed the line 42 seconds ahead of Holland's third-placed Abdi Nageeye, with Britain's Callum Hawkins coming home fourth in one hour and 39 seconds.

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In the women's elite race, Kenya's Brigid Kosgei set a new course record and and broke the world half marathon record by finishing in a time of 1:04:28.

Sir Mo was delighted to be back in the North East: "It’s good. In South Shields the crowd gets behind you,” he said,

"They cheer you on and I feel like I'm one of theirs now.

"I just want to say thank you to everyone who has come out."

Wife Tania was taking part in her third Great North Run: "I was happy that she ran a personal best. She did good,” he said.

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Lady Farah said: "You've got the crowd cheering you on and there's a lot of interaction between the runners and the crowd for the couple of miles and I would say the hardest part it probably between miles ten and twelve.

"Everytime I thought about stopping and walking or slowing down someone would shout my name and I always feel conscious of not stopping. Runners as well. I get runners running past me going 'come on Lady Farah' and it's really nice to have that.

"We do feel a part of the community whenever we come to Newcastle or up North, we get a lot of love from the community. We were in Tesco last night getting high fives from people down the aisles.

“We've got mates up here and we try to do the accent whenever we can when no one is listening."