South African half marathon champion Stephen Mokoka successfully stepped down in distance to outpace his rivals at the Bupa Great North 10km road race on Sunday.Mokoka, just a week after defending his national title, showed no signs of fatigue from that hard fought victory when becoming the inaugural winner of the Wearside event in a time of 29 minutes 20 seconds. The emerging world talent defying the windy conditions, was always in control before outsprinting fellow African's Tsegai Tewelde and Tsegezeab Woldmichael, the surprise podium finishers, behind him. "It was a very tough race and the wind was very strong," said Mokora who will be returning to British soil for the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Birmingham on October 11. "Despite the strong field I always believed in myself and felt I would win," he added. "I felt no problems after my half marathon win last week. "Now I am looking forward to coming back to England again, where I know I can run a fast time." Tewelde, although offering a gallant challenge, finished four seconds behind Mokora whilst Woldmichael fell out of contention clocking a time of 29min 33sec.
The pair of Eritrean born athletes who settled in Scotland after the 2008 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, surprised their more experienced opponents, particularly Stefano Baldini the 2004 Olympic marathon champion. The duo who successfully joined the local athletics scene and compete for Shettlestone Harriers, ran side by side until Mokoka ,seeing the finish line in sight, powered ahead with a strong sprint. The race itself saw a big pack from the 30 plus elite entries stay together until approaching the halfway distance, the eventual top three and Baldini increased the tempo. Within two kilometres, the quartet went clear and then between eight and nine kilometres Baldini succumbed to the pressure being applied and was left in a vacuum for the last one. "I felt okay today and I'm happy with my run and time ," said Baldini who clocked 29min 40sec and was a late replacement for Kenya's world marathon record holder Luke Kibet who had to withdraw for domestic reasons on Thursday.
Olympian Kate Reed was excited by her performance in her first outing since last summer's Beijing Games where she competed in the 10000m carrying an achilles injury which required post event surgery. Reed didn't hesitate on her comeback in dashing to the front, the front running tactics seeing her pull well clear of the field to win given the conditions, in an impressive time of 33min 22sec. "It's been a long time getting back and I wasn't sure what might happen so I'm really pleased with that," said Reed. "The times weren't fast because the wind was strong and swirling particularly on the seafront. "I didn't know what shape I would be in but it's better than I thought, and it was really nice to win my first race in my comeback.
Reed, who chose the Great Run Event rather than compete at the UK World trials and challenge for a 10000m in Berlin next month, added: "I did think about running the trials , but really it would have been silly. I would much rather ease my way back and I wasn't really willing to take the risk as all my training has been on grass rather than the track. Hayley Haining, the Scot who was on standby to replace Paula Radcliffe if the world record holder pulled out of last summer's Olympic marathon, ran on her own behind Reed, finishing in 34min 12sec. Ireland's Rosemary Ryan was kept company by local runner Alyson Dixon and world distance running legend Tegla Loroupe, before pulling away to take third place in 34min 30sec. Chester-le-Street's Dixon clocked 35min 06sec, while Loroupe who is kept extremely busy running her big farm in Kenya and as a UNESCO ambassador finished fifth in 35min 30sec.
Leading Results
Men
1, Stephen Mokoka (South Africa) 29min 20sec
2, Tsegai Tewelde (Eritrea) 29:24
3, Tsegezeab Woldmichael (Eritrea) 29:33
4, Stefano Baldini (Italy) 29:40
5, Antonio Nunez (Spain) 29:54
6, Teweldeberhan Mengisteab (Eritrea) 30:04
7, Serod Batochir (Mongolia)30:08
8, A Hagos (Eritrea) 30:11
9, M Miles (Great Britain) 30:14
10, Marius Ionescu (Romania) 30:16
11, Pedro Santos (Spain) 30:17
12, Dan Robinson (Great Britain) 30:19
Women
1, Kate Reed (Great Britain) 33:22
2, Hayley Haining (Great Britain) 34:12
3, Rosemary Ryan (Ireland) 34:30
4, Alyson Dixon (Great Britain) 35:06
5, Tegla Loroupe (Kenya) 35:30
6, Clare Martin (Great Britain) 36:33
7, Carolyn Summersgill (Great Britain) 36:57
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