Victorious Farah plans deserved break

 

Saturday 15 September 2012 15:54 EDT
Comments
Rest assured: Mo Farah is taking a fortnight off after a hectic season
Rest assured: Mo Farah is taking a fortnight off after a hectic season (Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Mo Farah plans to reward himself with a two-week break from running after rounding off his historic season with victory in the two-mile event at the Great North City Games on Gateshead quayside yesterday.

The double Olympic gold medallist burst past Australia's Collis Birmingham to cross the finish line in a winning time of 8min 40.04sec in bright sunshine at the event, part of a weekend of athletics culminating in today's Great North Run.

"I won't be thinking about any running in the next two weeks," the 29-year-old said after his victory. "I will go out for a couple of meals with my friends and family.

"It's important that I enjoy it and take a break and take my mind off running."

Farah conceded that the pressure of a whirlwind month since his London 2012 heroics had started to take its toll despite the apparent ease of his win, with Bobby Curtis catching Birmingham at the last gasp to clinch second place in 8:42.80. Farah, who also recently became the father of twins, added: "My lungs were on fire. Seriously, I was blowing for the first mile because it was pretty quick and I was thinking, 'I hope it's not going to carry on at this pace'.

"It slowly eased off, but I still had to work for it. It wasn't as easy as I thought. I've done a lot of stuff since becoming Olympic champion – I've had my two girls and done other stuff as well."

Farah's fellow Olympic gold medallist Greg Rutherford had to settle for second place in the men's long jump behind his Great Britain team-mate Chris Tomlinson, who triumphed with a City Games record leap of 8.18 metres.

Dwain Chambers rounded off a season of personal redemption with an impressive time of 10.04sec to win the men's 100m.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in