Yared Hagos wins Brass in York Half-Marathon

Yared Hagos of Ethiopia opened up his yearly account with a runaway victory in the Brass Monkey Half-Marathon in York yesterday.

The Ethiopian athlete defied gale force winds and close to 2,000 rivals to win by a margin of exactly four-and-a-half minutes.

The Wallsend athlete, having his first outing since before Christmas when he was beaten into second place by Elswick’s Phil Hurst in the Norman Woodcock 10, cut out a lone furrow for most of way after taking an early lead in the sell-out event.

Despite having to battle the elements and being out on his own for most of the contest Hagos came home just over a minute outside the course record to post an impressive 66 minutes 42 seconds.