Sir Mo Farah broke the British record to finish third at this year’s Virgin London Marathon. Declaring “I did good today!” Farah beat Steve Jones’s 33-year British record of 2 hours 7 minutes 13 seconds, crossing the line in 2 hours 6 minutes and 21 seconds.
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Despite his tremendous finish, it wasn’t plain sailing for the quadruple Olympic track champion, who struggled to take on fluid during the hottest London Marathon on record. Farah was first seen picking up the wrong bottle, then, dropping another later in the race.
At the finish line Farah said: “I’m knackered. These guys went for it, for the world record. It was do or die and I wanted to hold on as long as I could but I’m satisfied with the result. I can’t do any better than what I did.
“I got a personal best, I fought as much as I could. You have to be a man, fight like a man, or start off in the back and regret later on. I fought as much as I could.
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“Everybody was going for it so basically I had no choice but to go with them. At one point, I was looking at the clock, the first mile was ridiculously quick [4:22], I was looking as it thinking, ‘Oh my God.’ Then it slowed down after halfway, and from there you pay the price. You can’t go off that fast and come away with 2:02.”
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He also went on to praise the winner of this year’s London Marathon, Eliud Kipchoge, saying: “He just makes it look so easy.” Kipchoge crossed the line in 2 hours 4 minutes and 17 seconds.
Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya won the women’s elite race, finishing with a PB and a time of 2 hours 18 minutes 31 seconds.
