Farah thrills huge crowd with another victory at the Great North CityGames

Double Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah delighted a huge crowd on the Newcastle/Gateshead Quaysides when in his last appearance of an unbelievable season and in the first event  at the Great North CityGames he stormed to victory over two miles.

Farah came up trumps after a fast start to the race by pacemaker Paul Robinson before asserting his domination over his international rivals over the course criss-crossing and winning the invitation event in eight minutes 40.00 seconds.

The  London Games  5,000 metres and 10,000m champion whose confidence is sky high after his exceptional performances five weeks ago and showing no sign of baby sitting duties after the recent birth of his twin daughters Aisha and Amani, got down to the serious business with 500m remaining.

Brushing aside Collis Birmingham who took up the pace three-and-half-minutes into the race and went through the mile in 4:17,  he bided his time before unleashing his famous finish to quickly draw ahead of the Australian who was also overtaken almost at the death by the USA's Bobby Curtis who clocked 8:42.8 and had a slight advantage of 0.2sec at the line.

Farah cheered on by a crowd of 20,000 who enjoyed his signature "Mobot" performance when crossing the line, said:  "The first mile was fast and  my lungs were burning and on fire but then it slowed off. That was tough and I had to work for it."

The 29-year-old now taking two weeks off from training, added:  "It’s been hard work, the Olympics are over and I competed in this race to enjoy it and the North East crowds. Now I need a rest, a chill out and have some time with the family. I just want to thank everyone whose supported and congratulated me."

The Great North CityGames match between Aviva Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Team USA then got underway in earnest with the visitors for a second successive year triumphing by 6 wins to 3.

Reigning World champion and Olympic silver medallist Jason Richardson shrugged off a very poor start to retain his 110m hurdles title although Lawrence Clarke made it difficult for him, but he had no answer when the American powered ahead coming off the sixth hurdle.

In a cross wind Richardson won in a time of 13.41 seconds with his teammate Ryan Wilson just getting ahead of Clarke to take runner up by 0.09sec with a mark of 13.48.

Team USA then went into a 2-0 lead when Brenda Martinez producing tremendous speed flew into the lead in the final 100m and win the mile in a time of 4:34.99.

Her late dash denied Hannah England scoring a third successive victory by a  margin of only 0.57sec while Anna Pierce grabbed third spot in 4:36.44.

Then the visitors went further ahead when Jeneba Tarmoh who gained an Olympic 4x100m relay gold medal after taking part in the heats, obliterated the 100m field.

The 22-year-old flew out of her blocks to outsprint her rivals in a time of 11.17 with teammate Mikele Barber second in 11.37 and British record holder Anyika Onuora following her home with a mark of 11.42.

Former World 1,500m and 5,000m gold medallist Bernard Lagat may now be a 37-year-old but he still has plenty of speed in his legs and that saw him take the American’s into a 4-0 lead.

Lagat fourth in the Olympic 5,000m was made to fight hard all of the way to the line by the host nation’s James Brewer a former European Under23 silver medallist but held on to win by 0.19sec in a time of 4:01.62 with Jordan McNamara third in 4:02.86.

Lagat's time rounded up to 4:02 equalled the CityGames record which Andy Baddeley and Farah achieved three years ago during their epic battle in the England versus Australia match. 

Then fortunes changed when Dwain Chambers pulled a belter out of his pocket to roar down the purpose built track on the Gateshead side of the river to take the Brits first victory.

The country's Number 1 produced a very impressive mark of 10.04sec which was the fastest time ever in a CityGames 100m race although two-years ago in Manchester former World champion Tyson Gay produced an amazing mark of 9.89sec en route to his 200m win at the sister event in Manchester.

"I'm going to have a beer tonight, quipped Chambers before emphasising their will be no respite for him in the winter. "Now I'm looking forward to next year's European Indoor Championships. "It was a great way to round off the season and get out here and win.

The Aviva GB&NI team's fortunes then turned another corner when there was a 1-2 in the long jump from Chris Tomlinson and Olympic silver medallist Greg Rutherford.

Teessider Tomlinson sixth in the Olympic final produced a huge third round effort of 8.18m to smash by a centimetre the CityGames record Rutherford who had a best of 7.89m achieved in 2009. Olympic triple jump gold medallist Christian Taylor finished third with 7.74m.  

However Team USA increased their lead to 5-2 when Mary Saxer surprisingly scalped her British rival and World Indoor pole vault bronze medallist Holly Bleasdale who has much more experience of taking part in street meetings. 

The American took the honours with a height of 4.25m with the Bleasdale clearing 4.10m and taking second on countback ahead of the visitors April Bennett.

Then Anyika Onuora pulled out another much needed British success and in brilliant fashion when taking the 150m and lowering her own UK  record time of which she set in last year's meeting by 0.20sec with a time of 16.70. That easily thwarted the ambitions of Shayla Mahan and Barber who finished in 16.99 and 17.02.

With victory assured midway through the competition Wallace Spearmon rounded off the proceedings when with a late burst he thwarted the ambitions of Marlon Devonish to take his 150m race by a margin of 0.07sec in 15.13. Christian Malcolm placed third in 15.50.

"We had an invitation to go and see the president but we decided to come here," quipped Spearmon who has taken to the unique street racing concept after his brilliant victory at the sister event in Manchester four months ago.

 

Source: Great North CityGames