Haile Gebrselassie wins Great Birmingham Run

(23 October 2011, Birmingham, BBC)--Distance runner Haile Gebrselassie has won the Bupa Great Birmingham Run. The 38-year-old Ethiopian completed the 13.1 mile course in one hour, one minute and 29 seconds and described the race as "fantastic".

The event began at the National Indoor Arena and 15,000 runners turned out to compete in the race which ended on Broad Street.

Originally called the Birmingham Half Marathon, it has been relaunched as part of Great Run.
Mr Gebrselassie said: "It was a fantastic race for me except for the wind and it was really hard between 11 and 12 miles.
"This helps me in my preparations for next year's Olympic Games, where of course I still have to get the qualifying standard. That means to get one of the three places in the Ethiopian team I will have to run around 2:05."

Qatar's Essa Rashed came second and Abderrahime Bouramdane took third place. The women's race was won by British athlete Gemma Steel in a time of 1 hour, 12 minutes and 21 seconds.
Source: BBC

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