Haile Gebrselassie wins the Great Scottish Run Half Marathon in Glasgow

By Phil Minshull

Haile Gebrselassie showed that he still has plenty of speed and stamina in his legs when he clocked 1:01:10 to win the Great Scottish Run in Glasgow on Sunday (6).

The evergreen 40-year-old Ethiopian distance running legend in his first ever appearance in Scotland set a course record after surging clear of his Kenyan rival Emmanuel Bett in the penultimate kilometre of a race held in warm but overcast conditions.

Bett, the fastest man in the world over 10,000m on the track last year, a distance at which Gebrselassie set three World records, finished 31 seconds in arrears in 1:01:41.

“Today was really wonderful. I am so happy,” said Gebrselassie. “It was a perfect set-up. I didn’t expect this kind of weather. When I saw the time at 15k I knew we were heading for a fast time.”

Gebrselassie can take plenty of pride in the fact that nobody older has ever run faster over the distance.

Last month, he ran 1:00:41 over the same distance at the Bupa Great North Run, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, to finish third behind his compatriot Kenenisa Bekele and Great Britain’s Olympic and World champion Mo Farah, although that raced is considered to be downhill for record purposes.

“After losing out in the last mile at the Bupa Great North Run I had to get clear today and decided to make my move when I did and it worked so well, I’m happy with this win,” added Gebrselassie

Great Britain’s Susan Partridge, who finished 10^th in the IAAF World Championships Marathon in August, was the first woman home in 1:10:40.

Source: IAAF.org