Brit faces Geoffrey Kamworor and Muktar Edris on Sunday while Peres Jepchirir, Tirunesh Dibaba, Sharon Lokedi and Charlotte Purdue line up in women’s race
MO FARAH will enjoy an emotional farewell on Sunday (Sept 10) when he has his final competitive outing at the end of a long storied career. The 40-year-old has picked the AJ Bell Great North Run for the last serious race of his career and the streets are sure to be packed with well-wishers at an event he has won six times.
After placing fourth in The Big Half in London last weekend despite struggling with a slight cold, he looks unlikely to stride down South Shields this weekend in the lead. The opposition is fierce, too, including Geoffrey Kamworor and Muktar Edris. Wherever he places, though, Farah will be in the spotlight.
“I hope I’ll be better for the Great North Run,” he says. “I’ll go out there and give it my all.”
Kamworor is a three-time world half-marathon champion and two-time winner of the New York City Marathon in addition to finishing runner-up in the London Marathon five months ago. The Kenyan says: “Sir Mo Farah he has had such an incredible career, it’s exciting to be a part of his last ever race, but I’m obviously here to win and add my name to the list of champions.”
Geoffrey Kamworor (NN Running)
Edris, meanwhile, won the world 5000m title in 2017 ahead of Farah and then successfully defended his title in 2019. Over half-marathon he has a best of 58:40 and says: “I’ve raced Mo on the track but this is the first time we have met on the roads. I have great respect for him. After we raced in London 2017 World Championships, I named my son after him and I look forward to renewing our friendship and rivalry.”
Peres Jepchirchir, the Olympic marathon champion from Kenya, leads the women’s line-up. Sharon Lokedi of Kenya, the reigning New York City Marathon champion, also competes, whereas the British challenge is led by Charlotte Purdue.
Peres Jepchirchir
Wheelchair racers include Sammi Kinghorn, Hannah Cockroft and Eden Rainbow-Cooper plus Johnboy Smith, Danny Sidbury and Nathan Maguire.
BBC1 coverage starts at 10am with the elite wheelchair race off at 10.30am, elite women at 10.35am and elite men and masses 11am with the televised coverage ending at 2pm.
Half-marathon men’s field
Sir Mo Farah GBR; Geoffrey Kamworor KEN; Muktar Edris ETH; Ben Connor GBR; Hamid Ben Daoud ESP; Adam Lipschitz RSA; Kiseki Shiozawa JPN; Koki Kamata JPN; Yoshiki Oshiro JPN; Efrem Gidey IRE; Michael Cameron GBR; Ryoma Inoue JPN; Roy Hoornweg NED; Andrew Heyes GBR; Ian Butler USA; Chris Livesey GBR; Dougie Musson GBR; Jonathan Collier GBR; Alexander Lawrence GBR; William Bryan GBR; Lewis Gamble-Thompson GBR; Paul Whittaker GBR; Logan Smith GBR; Linton Taylor GBR; Mark Bostock GBR; Peter Avent GBR; Adrian Bailes GBR; Daniel Haymes GBR; Michael Eccles GBR; Alastair Watson GBR; Sam Hancox GBR; Tony Payne THA; James Reeder GBR; Thomas Gostelow GBR; Nicholas Barry GBR; Chris Parr GBR; David Bishop GBR; Milan Campion GBR; Carl Avery GBR; Ollie Garrod GBR; Fionn Brodie GBR; Paul Piper GBR; Salem Mohammed EGY; Wai Ching Soh MAS; Stephen Scullion IRL
Charlotte Purdue (David Hewitson)
Half-marathon women’s field
Peres Jepchirchir KEN; Sharon Lokedi KEN; Charlotte Purdue GBR; Steph Tell GBR; Clara Evans GBR; Wakana Itsuki JPN; Amy-Eloise Markovc GBR; Jessa Hanson USA; Ayaka Lato JPN; Becky Briggs GBR; Isabelle Pickett GBR; Georgina Weston GBR; Sonia Samuels GBR; Eleanor Baker GBR; Elvedin Bektic GBR; Charlie Arnell GBR; Katie Olding GBR; Sarah Holt GBR; Carlone Lambert GBR; Ruby Wolfe GBR; Katherine Camp NZL; Faye Birkby GBR; Elizabeth Renondeau GBR; Jasmine Wood GBR; Jennifer Walsh GBR; Rosa Donaldson GBR; Rachel Gifford GBR; Yvonne McNair GBR; Rachel Hillman GBR; Scarlett Dale GBR; Sophie Hilpala AUS
One mile and 5km world trial races
On Friday (Sept 8) the British trial races for 5km and one mile for the World Road Running Championships in Latvia on October 1 will take place on the Newcastle-Gateshead Quayside.
Last weekend’s Big Half winner Calli Thackery is among the entries for the women’s 5km.
Other female 5km contenders include Amelia Quirk, Eloise Walker, Hannah Nuttall, Jenny Nesbitt, Kirsty Walker, Sarah Astin and Verity Ockenden.
Jack Rowe (Mark Shearman)
Jack Rowe, the men’s winner at the Big Half last weekend, is keen to qualify for the 5km for Riga. Opposition over this distance in the trial includes: Adam Craig, Henry McLuckie, Osian Perrin, Rory Leonard and Tom Mortimer.
Sarah McDonald, Revee Walcott-Nolan and Alex Bell lead the entries for the women’s mile, presumably hoping to gain a GB vest at the World Road Running Champs after missing out on a trip to Budapest.
Also in the entries are: Erin Wallace and Khai Mhlanga.
Alex Bell leads Sarah McDonald (David Lowes)
Adam Fogg, the 2023 Emsley Carr Mile winner, is in the men’s mile line-up against Callum Elson and James West.
The elite women’s mile is 4.30pm with the men’s mile 4.45pm, women’s 5km at 5pm and men’s 5km at 5.20pm followed by the Great North 5km mass race at 6.10pm.
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