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The Great Manchester Run concluded on Saturday, the 9th of May in the United Kingdom, with an approximately 40,000 person turnout participating in the 10k running event. Participants ran for various causes and charities.
Kenyan Betsy Saina was the winner, with a time of 31min 51 sec, with Briton Gemma Steel, 6 seconds behind her time, in second. Stephen Sambu of Kenya won the men’s race with a time of 27:30, completing the 10km run 9 seconds faster than anyone has ever run the race so far, thus setting a new record.
Iconic long-distance runner Haile Gebrselassie announced this would be his last competitive race.
The 42-year-old Ethiopian is a two-time 10,000 m Olympic champion. The runner has 27 world records to his name. He was in 16th place in the elite men’s run this past weekend.
Several Olympians were part of the race in Manchester this weekend, as British Olympic para-athlete David Weir won the men’s wheelchair race for the 6th time. Shelley Woods, also an Olympian medal winner and part of Britain’s elite paralympics team, won the women’s race.
British 10,000m gold winner Jo Pavey, a four-time Olympic athlete was also part of the race, coming in 10th in the elite women’s race.
Third in the women’s race was two-time marathon world champion, Ethiopian Edna Kiplagat.
Several British TV celebrities participated in the run or came to support runners and causes.
Running icon Paula Radcliffe paid tribute to her friend and former competitor Gebrselassie on Twitter as he retired from competitive running:
