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| Priscah Jeptoo (centre) poses for a photoshoot after she won the Great North Run race in Newcastle. |
By ELIZABETH MBURUGU and IAAF
Priscah Jeptoo caused a major upset at the Bupa Great North Run on Sunday when she beat Ethiopian superstars Meseret Defar and Tirunesh Dibaba clocking 1:05:45, the third-fastest time ever at the 21km distance.
In cool weather conditions, the 29-year-old crossed the line in five seconds quicker than the official world record from Kenya’s Mary Keitany, who ran 1:05:50 in 2011. However Jeptoo’s time will not make the record books since the course, with a start in Newcastle, is a point-to-point course that is just slightly too downhill for record purposes.
But that takes nothing away from the superb performance by Jeptoo.
In a dramatic sprint finish in the men’s race, Kenenisa Bekele beat Mo Farah by a mere second on the Briton’s half-marathon debut.
The 10,000m world record-holder from Ethiopia clocked 1:00:09 after Farah had closed him down in the final 400 metres but could not pass Bekele.
Farah, bidding to become the first British man since 1985 to win, had to settle for second place in 1:00:10 while Ethiopian legend Haile Gebrselassie was third in 1:00:41.
The women’s race started slower than expected with a 5km split of 16:22 as Dibaba and Defar, who clashed in the half marathon for the first time, exchanged the lead, with Jeptoo running right behind them.
The pace increased slightly over next 5km section with the 10km point reached in 32:26 but it was in the third quarter of the race where the outcome was decided.
Jeptoo moved in front of the Ethiopians for the first time at 13km, a slightly uphill section. The Olympic silver medallist and London Marathon winner then started to put the pressure on.
Dibaba started losing ground immediately. Defar held on, initially looking back and trying to encourage Dibaba to join her, but there was no way back to the leader for the Olympic and World 10,000m champion.
Jeptoo kept the fast pace and ran the third 5km section in an amazing 15:03. Soon she passed the 15km mark in 47:29 as Defar started to drop back as well.
Looking back a couple of times to check on the state of her rivals, the Kenyan was able to increase her lead substantially in the next few kilometres. With the Ethiopians beaten, the question now was if Priscah Jeptoo could break Paula Radcliffe’s course record of 1:05:40 set 10 years ago. Jeptoo missed the Briton’s mark by five seconds.
Defar held on to second place in 1:06:09 while Dibaba was third in 1:06:56.
