Scotland win relay, but Farah can only manage second
The Great Edinburgh XCountry took place in Holyrood Park on Saturday, with races for all ages and abilities from club and fun runners up to International and National Champions. The big draw for the crowds was the entry listed as ‘M. Farah – GB & NI’ and the biggest crowds were there to see the great man run.
Before his event or, more correctly, the Senior Men’s 8Km, the Junior men’s and women’s races, the 4x1KM Mixed Relay and the Senior Women’s 6Km had all been decided.
Winners in the Junior races were Alex Yee (GB) and Bobby Clay (GBR) with Scotland ‘A’ – comprising Jake Wightman, Cameron Boyack and ‘The Dream Team’ of UK women’s middle distance, Steph Twell and Laura Muir – winning the relay by almost 10 seconds from GB & NI.
The Senior Women’s 6Km was won at a gallop by GB’s Kate Avery, but EUR’s Fionnuala McCormack came back in the closing stages to within 4 seconds in second place. GB’s Gemma Steel was third.
First Scot home was Beth Potter, the 2014 Scottish XCountry championship Bronze medallist, who was in 13th place, almost 2 minutes down.
Finishing the day’s proceedings was the feature race, the Senior Men’s 8Km which was seen to be a straight battle between Mo Farah and 2014 and 2015’s 4Km Champion, Garrett Heath.
The men’s race was not such a strung out affair as the women’s race with a substantial bunch still in contention with a couple of laps to go. Scotland’s Callum Hawkins lead for a fair way, but when Farah and Heath put the foot down with a few Kms left he held on, but eventually fell back to fourth where he held on to a 2 second gap over Ross Millington, the GB athlete having gone through the bell with the two main contenders. USA’s Scott Faubl fought his way up to third by the tape, coming up from fifth place as the race entered the final lap, but it was not to be Farah’s day as Heath outsprinted the multi-World title holder to cross the line 2 seconds clear for his third win in Edinburgh in succession.
Full results from the day’s events can be found here.
