Mo Farah became the first British man to win the Great North Run for 29 years on Sunday, with a performance that brought his summer to an end in fine style.
Farah triumphed in one hour exactly on the half-marathon route from Newcastle to the coastal roads of South Shields. He beat Kenya’s Mike Kigen, who was given the same time as him, while Uganda’s Stephen Kiprotich, the Olympic marathon champion, was third in 1:01:35.
Not since Steve Kenyon's victory in 1985, four years after the race begun, has a British man won and Farah said: 'It feels great. I just had to dig deep.'
In a year where his full marathon debut in London saw him finish eighth, Farah’s summer season comes to an end with this victory on the back of his 5000m and 10,000m double at last month’s European Athletics Championships in Zurich.
He said: 'I have learned a lot this year and it has been up and down. But now I want to take a break and relax and get ready for the World Championships next year.'
As Kenya’s Mary Keitany won the women’s race in a course record of 1:05:39, there was a superb run by multiple SPAR European Cross Country medallist Gemma Steel, who was second in a personal best of 1:08:13 to become the third fastest Briton of all-time, with Ethiopian Tiki Gelana third in 1:08:45.
Outside of the elite races, the event celebrated its one-millionth finisher with the honour going to Tracey Cramond, of Darlington, who was running in memory of her late mother.
It was a busy weekend across Europe with the 44th Rieti meeting on Saturday and Sunday.
The opening day saw the last event in the IAAF Hammer challenge with Hungary’s Krisztian Pars, who retained his European crown in Zurich, being crowned the overall champion.
Victory on the day in Italy went to Poland’s Pawel Fajdek, the world champion, with 81.11m from the second round, but a throw of 80.78m sealed second for Pars, enough to take the series.
On Sunday, Ukraine’s Bohdan Bondarenko won the high jump with 2.36m while Karol Zalewski, of Poland, ran a meeting record as he won the 300m in 31.93, the fifth fastest time by a European.
Rasmus Magi, who remains Europe’s fastest man in 2014 over 400m hurdles, won in 49.47, while Poland’s Robert Urbanek won the discus with 64.29m, Slovenia’s Martina Ratej triumphed in the javelin with 63.61m, Irina Gumenyuk, of Russia, won the triple jump with 13.88m and countryman Russian Aleksandr Gripich was first in the pole vault with 5.70m.
After her brilliant victory in the 5000m at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich, Sweden’s Meraf Bahta was celebrating again as she won the Tjejmilen 10km in Stockholm, the country’s biggest women’s road race.
Bahta crossed the line in 32:40, a new course record, as she beat Charlotta Fougberg, the European 3000m steeplechase silver medallist, who was second in 33:50.
Dusseldorf was the venue for the German 10km road race championships which saw Andre Pollmacher take the men’s event in 29:23 and Sabrina Mockenhaupt triumph in the women’s in 34:12.
In Ufa, there was a great finish in the women’s race at the Russian half-marathon championships as Tatyana Arkhipova beat Nina Podnebesova by one second in 1:13:33. Fyodor Shutov won the men’s race in 1:04:02.
In Binz, German’s European shot put champions David Storl and Christina Schwanitz were triumphant again as they won this special event where the winners' combined efforts were counted. With a best of 21.13m, Storl did it in round five with a total of 101.37m while Schwanitz had an overall score of 98.08m with her furthest effort being 20.10m.
Dukla Praha’s men and USK Praha’s women defended their Czech League titles in the finals in Kolin.
At the National League Final in Biala Podlaska in Poland, Tomasz Majewski, the double Olympic champion, won the shot put with 20.12m and Kamila Licwinko, the world indoor champion, cleared 1.93m for victory in the high jump.
THE WEEK AHEAD
There are 39 meetings this week. Visit our European Athletics Calendar for all the details.