Sunday, September 19, 2010

Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie makes Great North Run bow

The Bupa Great North Run, Gateshead:
Date: Sunday 19 September Coverage: Watch live 0930 BST &; 1340 BST on BBC One and the BBC Sport website (UK only), Red Button 1200-1340 and coverage on BBC Radio 5 live from 0900 BST.

VIA BBC SPORTS + HAILE GEE VIDEO!

Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie - the world's greatest-ever long distance runner - is targeting victory in his first Great North Run on Sunday.

The 1996 and 2000 Olympic 10,000m gold medallist, now 37, could also threaten Zersenay Tadese's five-year-old course record of 59 minutes 05 seconds.

American Dathan Ritzenhein and Moroccan Abderrahim Bouramdane are also running in the world's biggest half marathon.

Former winner Martin Lel of Kenya has pulled out because of injury.

Lel, 31, won the race in 2007 and 2009 and has also achieved three London Marathon victories during his career, but he has a shin problem that also forced him to miss this year's event in the English capital.

The presence of Gebrselassie, who will be fulfilling a long-time promise made to race chairman Brendan Foster by taking part in the Tyneside classic from Newcastle to South Shields, provides compensation for Lel's absence.

This race is a long story and it's going to be a great race. It is really a big chance for me, plus it's the 30th anniversary
Haile Gebrselassie
It is the 30th staging of the event and is expected to see 54,000 runners in total take part.

Gebrselassie should have made his debut in the event in 2000, but was forced to withdraw after winning his second successive Olympic 10,000m gold medal, due to an Achilles injury which required surgery.

"My top priority here is to win the race," said Gebrselassie, whose personal best - a world record - is four seconds quicker than the course record.

"This race is a long story and it's going to be a great race. It is really a big chance for me, plus it's the 30th anniversary."

Gebrselassie will be cheered on back home in Ethiopia, where fans will be able to watch a live television broadcast of the event for the first time.

They, and the rest of the viewing public, are likely to be treated to a top-class race, featuring some of the world's best long-distance runners.

Ritzenhein, 29, who was third in 2006 Great North Run, will be running in his first half marathon since winning bronze in last autumn's World Half Marathon Championships in Birmingham, where he set his personal best of exactly 60 minutes.

And Bouramdane, 32, claimed an impressive fourth in the London Marathon in April.

"I'm sure the trio's competitive ability will guarantee a great race and that should naturally lead to a fast performance with good weather of course being a key factor," said Peter Riley, the event's elite athletes manager.

Jose-Manuel Martinez, winner of the recent European Marathon silver medal, will lead the Spanish challenge for honours, while domestic hopes are headed by Andy Lemoncello, who was the highest-finishing Briton in this year's London Marathon.

Meanwhile in the elite women's race, Tokyo-based Mara Yamauchi will be aiming to become the first British winner since Paula Radcliffe in 2003.

The main challenge is likely to come from reigning Olympic marathon gold medallist Constantina Dita of Romania, former winner Berhane Adere of Ethiopia and Portugal's Ana Dulce Felix, who finished third in the event a year ago.

Yamauchi, 36, who finished sixth in the Great North Run in 2005, and has been preparing in St Moritz, said: "I've been training at 1800 meters altitude. This is the fifth year I've been there so I know it really well. It's quite hilly, and good for trails, and also there's good road running there."

"While we had perfect conditions in July, unfortunately it is very cold and wet at the moment."

Former European Cross Country champion Hayley Yelling-Higham and her sister-in-law Liz Yelling, a two-time Olympic Marathon participant, will also be carrying British hopes of a podium finish.

But two-time World Marathon Majors champion Irina Mikitenko of Germany has withdrawn because of a cold which has prevented her training this week.

The wheelchair races will feature Great Britain's Paralympic medallists David Weir and Shelly Woods, taking on extremely strong opposition from abroad.
 
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