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Birthday joy for record-breaker Farah

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Mo Farah has provided himself with the perfect birthday present by breaking the European half-marathon record.

The British distance star won in Lisbon on Sunday in 59:32.20 seconds inside the previous quickest mark set by Spain’s Fabian Roncero in Berlin in 2001.

Equally, Farah became the first Briton to smash the hour barrier for the 13.1 miles, overtaking his personal best of exactly 1:00:00 from last year.

Farah, who is 32 today, was 12 seconds off the early pace before increasing his tempo in the second half of the race to beat Kenyans Micah Kogo, second in 59:33, and Stephen Kibet, third in 59:58.

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They were race tactics which worked brilliantly and Farah said on Sunday: 'What I did in the last part was very comfortable for me and I was sure to close slowly.

'It is nice birthday present for tomorrow. I am so happy to break the British record and European record.'

Farah revealed how the track will dominate his plans between now and the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016.

He said: 'The focus goes for track only with some road activity, but the longest will be the half marathon. About the marathon? I will think (about it) after Rio.'

During the latter stages of the race he passed 20km in 56:27 which is also the fastest by a European.

It was also another good day for Portugal’s Sara Moreira, who this winter has proved herself to be one of Europe’s leading road runners.

Moreira, who was third in the New York City Marathon in November, ran a personal best of 1:09:18 to finish second behind Kenya’s Rose Chelimo who won in 1:08:22.



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