Newcomer Wins New York City Half Marathon

On a cloudless 34-degree morning at the New York City Half Marathon on Sunday, two men who had never raced a half marathon outlasted all but one of the heavy favorites as the 12-man lead pack in Central Park narrowed to seven on 42nd Street and dissolved to four heading down the West Side Highway.

In the final meters, Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia surged, but Mo Farah of Great Britain responded with an aggressive sprint of his own to win the race in 1 hour 23 seconds.

“I knew I had speed because I just got back from the European Indoors,” Farah said of his half-marathon debut. “It was a matter of hanging in.”

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