Mo Farah wins Antrim Coast Half Marathon
Sir Mo Farah followed his recent World one-hour record with another impressive run. This time, Sir Mo was in Larne, Northern Ireland, on the scenic 13.1 mile route of the P & O Antrim Coast event. Finishing in just over the hour he was a popular winner, as was Lily Partridge who took the women's title in 71-minutes. Tommy Hughes had the best age related performance of the day on the WAVA calculated tables as he took another M60 world record.
Stephen Scullion (handicap -5.6) set off with intend with Mo Farah (handicap -6.5), Ben Connor (handicap -6.8) and Marc Scott (handicap -7.0) keeping close contact on a fine mild morning. This group broke clear early on and worked together sharing the lead to pass halfway in 30:18.
Heading towards the 10 mile point , the leading pack continued to switch positions, with Marc Scott forging to the front and Farah and Connor following in close order. Belfast man, Stephen Scullion began to drift a little further back at this stage. The pace was pushed first by Scott with Farah respecting his class and keeping close contact. Farah chose his moment and pushed on over the final mile to win in a season's best of 60:27 ahead of Scott who finished, on his debut, with 60:39. Ben Connor continue his fine form with a PB of 60:55. Stephen Scullion came over the line in fourth and a breakthrough performance of 61:08. This is a new Northern Ireland record. Fellow Northern Ireland teammate Kevin Seaward (handicap -3.7) crossed the line next with a PB of 63:05 followed closely by Josh Griffiths (handicap -5.8) and Tom Evans (handicap -6.1).
Tommy Hughes (handicap -1.9) broke the M60 World Record as he finished in 71:09 and registered a WAVA equivalent performance of 57:47!
37-year-old Mo Farah scored a time equivalent of 59:22 for his performance on the same tables.
Meanwhile, in the women's race, the top three all broke the previous Northern Ireland all-comers' record. Lily Partridge (handicap -1.2) was a popular winner with a time of 71:36, followed home by Samantha Harrison (handicap -1.7) in 71:58 and Clara Evans (handicap -1.3) 72:21. U23 runner Becky Briggs (handicap 0.8) returned a stunning 72:54 run.
Results on the runbritain results pages Antrim Half Marathon Here