With the sun shining on Portsmouth and Southsea on Sunday, over 21,000 runners ran past the magnificent sights of the Historic Dockyard for the 20th annual Great South Run. British middle distance runner, Mo Farah put in a spectacular final surge to score a thrilling victory in the best ever finish to the 10 mile race.
The 26-year-old Londoner, Mo Farah, recovered to win ahead of Stephen Mokoka by a second, in a time of 46 minutes 25 seconds with Luke Kibet the 2007 champion third.
Farah now the UK''s third fastest performer, insisted: "The crowd made a big difference for me, they kept cheering my name - it''s a nice feeling particularly in those last two miles."
Portuguese Ines Monteiro spread-eagled the field to win the women''s event. It was clear when she was running past the majestic views of HMS Victory that she was heading for first place.
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard’s very own Simon Ware finished the race in a very fast 1hour 12minutes and 18seconds. Simon has worked as Collections Assistant for the Mary Rose Trust for 21 years and has run in every single Great South Run since the start in 1990, and to honour this great achievement he was given the ‘golden’ 500 running number, to celebrate the 500th Anniversary of the Mary Rose (the ship to whom Simon has devoted his career).
Simon commented that although his time was slightly down on last year he wasn''t too disappointed, as the last 2 miles were very tough with a strong headwind along the seafront.
“It was a great atmosphere with huge crowds supporting the runners throughout the course. I had a nice special announcement over the PA system just before the race started, for my 20 years of running the race, and then an invite into the VIP area, where I met a whole host of celebrities, some of which recognised me as the runner that had run every Great South Run! A super day!!”
Simon was raising money for the Alzheimer’s Society, this year’s BUPA nominated charity. Raising much needed funds for worthy causes is a vital ingredient of the Bupa Great Run Series and last year runners raised over £8 million for a wide range of charities.
Image credits from Press Conference on board HMS Warrior 1860 – all courtesy of Melissa Gerbaldi
(On Bridge) L-R Simon Ware, Mo Farah
(On Bridge) L-R Luke Kibet, Mo Farah, Benita Willis, Catherine Ndereba, Martin Fagan
(Ship Wheels) L-R Luke Kibet, Martin Fagan, Catherine Ndereba, Benita Willis, Mo Farah
