
Jepchirchir leads Lokedi to Kenyan 1-2 finish in Great North Run half marathon
Reading Time: 2min | Sun. 10.09.23. | 22:02
Ethiopia's Tamirat Tola on the other hand won the men's half marathon in 59:58
Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir on Sunday led fellow Kenyan Sharon Lokedi to a 1-2 finish as they dominated the hot Great North Run half marathon run between Newcastle upon Tyne and South Shields.
Jepchirchir, who finished runners-up last year, went one better following a snappy 5:03 opening mile to win the race in a time of 1:06:45.
Peres Jepchirchir wins gold medal at #GreatNorthRun 🔥 🔥.
— DStv Kenya (@DStv_Kenya) September 10, 2023
Sharon Lokedi take the silver. 🎊🔥🎉🥳
Good run ladies. pic.twitter.com/84Rik9jGN5
In the 24°C heat, Jepchirchir ran quicker than she had in kinder running conditions a year earlier, and kept New York Marathon winner Lokedi for company through the first mile, before breaking away to see the latter come home second in a time of 1:07:43.
Britain’s Charlotte Purdue was third - as she did in 2021- clocking 1:09:36.
Both Jepchirchir and Lokedi are expected to line up in this year’s New York City marathon.
In the men’s race however, Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola claimed the men’s title in 59:58, making amends for his failure to retain his world marathon title 14 days earlier.
In what was Great Britain’s Mo Farah’s final road race, he placed a respectable and emotional fourth in 1:03:28.
Alongside Farah, the smooth-running Tola led a group of seven athletes at 5km (14:11), then pressed on as the group climbed to the highest point of the course at five miles.
Then, on the downhill dual carriageway stretch, he showed the form which deserted him in the closing stages of the Budapest marathon. His 4:27 mile to seven broke all but Bashir Abdi, then he cranked it up to 4:20 and was 10 seconds up on the Belgian, who himself was 30 seconds ahead of Muktar Edris.
Tola’s pace slowed as the course climbed, but he still pulled away to dip under one hour. No-one else got under 61 minutes. Abdi was second in 1:01:20, while Edris was third in 1:01:54.
Additional reporting by World Athletics.











