Mo Farah will today kick back his heels, pack for the beach, and fully plot the closing chapter of his athletics career after completing an arduous but ultimately satisfying season by becoming the first man to win the Great North Run for a fourth successive time on Tyneside yesterday.
The 34-year-old, in his maiden appearance on the roads following his retirement from the track, had just enough – but only just – to hold off the brazen challenge of New Zealander Jake Robertson by a mere six seconds as he maintained his monopoly over the half-marathon jaunt from Newcastle to South Shields in 1:00:06.
Yet if his sprint for the finish took a familiar direct route, what the four-time Olympic gold medallist does next seems set to involve both zigs and zags. Previously adamant that his championship forays are at end, Farah has now pushed the door ajar once more to competing at the 2020 Olympic Games if his mastery of the marathon – starting in London next April, where he may target Steve Jones’ long-standing UK record of 2:07:13 – proves persuasive enough to steer him in the direction of Tokyo.
“Being on the roads, you have to learn about it,” he declared. “I’ll just see what happens. It does play on my mind: ‘do I think I could do Tokyo?’ Only if I’m good enough, if I get there and can get a medal, then yes. I wouldn’t let my country down. I would love to represent my country, like I’ve done on the track. But it just depends on how the marathon goes. If it goes so badly, then I won’t be there, right?”
Seeking out advice from proven exponents of the craft, the Briton will give himself every chance of success. However, he appears content, rise or fall, to settle into the role of elder statesman within the distance-running ranks. Andy Butchart, his anointed successor in the 5000 metres, revealed 24 hours earlier that Farah had been influential in his decision to part ways with his long-time coach at Central AC, Derek Easton, and place his career instead in the hands of Boston-based guru Terrence Mahon.
The Scot’s move, now official, has parallels with Farah’s assessment, almost a decade ago, that he should cross the Atlantic and link up with the subsequently controversial figure of Alberto Salazar in the wake of a disappointing performance at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. “I talked to him and said that person who he was looking at – Terrence – is a great coach,” said the veteran. “You make that decision because you want somebody who can help you and give you more and who is committed to you.
“I said: ‘I was once like you – I was there but not quite there’. It’s how much you want it. You have to understand who can help get you there. Terrence Mahon, I believe in him. He’s a great coach and coached some great athletes in the past.”
Mary Keitany secured her third triumph in the women’s Great North Run in 1:05:59 as Kenya’s contingent filled the first five places, with Gemma Steel the leading Briton in sixth. And while Sammi Kinghorn was well adrift of Switzerland’s Manuela Schar in coming runner-up in the wheelchair race, the Borderer’s time of 55:47 brought both a Scottish record and also reassurance for the double para sprint world champion as she gears up the elongation of a marathon debut in Chicago next month.
“It’s a lot different from track,” Kinghorn said. “There’s a lot to get used to, with a different push technique between sprinting and long-distance. But that wasn’t too bad as a preparation for the marathon.”
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