Kelly Holmes celebrates winning the women's 1500m Final (© Getty Images)
Tyneside, England welcomes Olympic and World champions to the Great North Run this weekend (25/26 Sep) but one of the world’s biggest half-marathons may be overshadowed by its ‘warm-up’ event, the Mile race.
Holmes to end season at the Mile
All eyes will be on double Olympic champion Kelly Holmes in her first race in the UK since her amazing performances in Athens. Holmes seeks her third win in the women’s mile on Saturday, having been beaten into second last year.
Holmes has a great record in road miles, especially those organised by Nova International as she not only won the Great North Mile in 2001 and 2002 but also over the same distance at Balmoral for the last two years.
On Saturday she faces fellow Britons Hayley Tullett – the reigning World 1500m bronze medallist – Jo Pavey, Jo Fenn, Helen Clitheroe and Lisa Dobriskey but with Holmes in such great form it will take an almighty effort to beat her … especially as anyone hoping to do so will also find themselves up against a crowd desperate to see a winning return for their Olympic hero.
The men’s Mile sees World 5000m champion Eliud Kipchoge in action against Rui Silva, Ivan Heshko, Andrea Longo and several British athletes including Mike East, the defending champion.
Great North Run
They will hopefully provide a fitting prelude to Sunday’s Great North Run where the women’s race brings World Cross Country Champion Benita Johnson into opposition with two former winners, Sonia O’Sullivan and Susan Chepkemei.
Little has gone right for Johnson since winning the World Cross title in Brussels but she bears many similarities with last year’s winner Paula Radcliffe and once the Aussie has put her injury and health problems behind her she will no doubt prove herself one of the best road runners in the world.
Indeed, like Radcliffe, Johnson can run well on any surface. She only made her debut at the half-marathon in 2003 and surprisingly took bronze in the IAAF World Half-marathon Championships in Vilamoura. Rather than finding the extra distance tough, she revelled in it and finished strongly to move up to third.
Sunday’s race may yet be too soon for us to see her at her best again, and with O’Sullivan and Derartu Tulu – who were both ahead of her over 5km in London three weeks ago – up against her it remains to be seen whether she can become the first female Aussie winner of this race since Lisa Martin in 1989 (hopes of an Aussie male winner have been ended with Craig Mottram withdrawing through injury).
Martin won this race three times and Irish record-holder O’Sullivan - a training partner of Johnson - will match that if she triumphs, having won in 1998 and 2002, the latter in a PB of 67:19.
World 10,000m champion Berhane Adere has a best of 67:32 and will be looking to go one better than last year when Radcliffe blew her – and the rest of the opposition – away.
Another African with knowledge of the course is Hendrick Ramaala, who seeks his third victory on Tyneside. The South African, twice a world silver medallist at the distance, has proved a more consistent half-marathoner than a marathoner, and will take plenty of beating.
He was just outside the hour last year but could probably have broken Paul Kosgei’s 2002 course record of 59:58 if he hadn’t waved to the crowd in the final few strides. Ethiopian Dejene Birhanu, second in the IAAF World Athletics Final 5000m last weekend, is another African contender but there are also a handful of European athletes looking to impress.
Canadian-based Briton Jon Brown, fourth in the last two Olympic marathons, would be a popular winner while Benoit Zwierzchiewski – the European Marathon record-holder – and Spaniard Julio Rey are also in action.
It promises to be an action-packed weekend and Holmes, above all, will be determined to give the spectators plenty to cheer about.
Bob Frank for the IAAF
