Mo Farah’s New Orleans win is new UK record

Published on 25/02/2013 02:18

Double Olympic champion Mo Farah outsprinted Ethiopia’s Gebre Gebremariam to win the New Orleans half marathon. Farah and Gebremariam enjoyed a 10-second lead at halfway and stretched their advantage to a minute at 10 miles.

Neither man was able to break clear and it came down to a sprint finish where Farah put his track speed to good use, edging out former world cross country champion Gebremariam in an unofficial time of 60 minutes 59 seconds. Fellow Briton Scott Overall was seventh, with Helen Clitheroe fourth in the women’s race behind winner Meseret Defar of Ethiopia.

Farah’s time was confirmed and he now holds the British record for the distance, taking four seconds off the mark held by Nick Rose since 1985. The 29-year-old ran faster on his debut in New York in 2011, but his time of 60mins 23secs does not count as a record due to the gradient on the course. Farah will run the first half of this year’s London Marathon before taking on the full 26.2 miles in 2014.