LONDON: Britain’s Olympic and world 10,000m champion Mohamed Farah won the 10-kilometre Great Manchester Run on Sunday.

Farah, who finished third in the London Marathon last month, deployed his famous finishing kick to surge past Uganda’s Moses Kipsiro with 100 metres left to win in a time of 28 minutes 27 seconds. Abel Kirui of Kenya was third, 25 seconds behind Farah.

Before the race Farah was among the competitors and spectators and officials who all observed a minute’s silence in memory of the 22 people killed as a result of last year’s Manchester Arena bombing.

This was the first time Farah, 35, had taken part in the race since 2007 and he appeared comfortable despite the warm conditions.

But Farah said afterwards he was still feeling the effects of breaking the British marathon record in London. “I’ve got great speed and I know that at the end of the races I can use it if the guys haven’t hurt me enough, so today was a matter of hanging in there,” Farah told BBC Sport.

Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba won her third straight Manchester women’s race, with Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei a distant second.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2018