MO FARAH might have hit the headlines when he adopted an Alan Shearer-style salute to celebrate his record-breaking hat-trick of Great North Run titles last weekend, but the four-time Olympic champion isn’t the only British distance runner changing their trademark pose.

For the last couple of years, Sunderland’s Alyson Dixon has broken into a hand-biting move whenever she has finished a big race, to mimic Black Cats striker Fabio Borini’s goalscoring celebration on the football field.

It was there when she finished last year’s Great North Run in a top-ten position, in evidence again when she booked her place at the Olympics by being the fastest British finisher in this year’s London Marathon, and on display once more as she finished in a more-than-creditable 28th position on the streets of Rio last month.

That, though, proved to be its final outing. Dixon was more restrained as she came across the Great North Run finishing line in 12th position on Sunday, and as she looks ahead to the challenges that lie in wait next season, she is pondering what celebration to adopt.

“I’ve decided to retire the Borini and go on to something else,” said Dixon, who is a member of the Sunderland Strollers club. “It won’t be Shearer though – I’ll be having a word with Mo Farah about that!

“Borini’s injured at the moment, so if I’d done it across the finishing line at the weekend, it might have looked like I was rubbing it in. I’ve had a year of the Borini – so it’s time to move on to something different for next year. Hopefully, there’ll be a few times in the next 12 months to use it.”

The next couple of years promise to be a considerable challenge for Dixon, more mentally than physically. The 37-year-old realised a lifetime ambition when she made her Olympic debut in Rio, but having poured so much time and energy into qualifying for the Games, what else is there for her to achieve?

She will be in her 40s when the Tokyo Olympics roll around in 2020, not a prohibitive age when it comes to marathon running, but one that makes it difficult for her to pin the rest of her career on qualifying for another Games.

Nevertheless, having broken off her post-Olympic holiday to compete on the Tyneside streets last weekend, she insists there is still plenty to keep her motivated as she prepares for the unglamorous hours of winter training.

“I’d always said that September was going to be down time, and I was going to enjoy and celebrate because I hadn’t really had the chance,” said Dixon. “But I wanted to run the Great North Run because I knew I needed a bit of a kick up the backside to say, ‘Right, you need to get back into things now’.

“There are a lot of things still out there for me to do, and I know what I’m capable of and what I still want to achieve. I just needed to get that fire back into the belly, instead of just plodding on thinking, ‘Right, what do I do now?’

“I’ll be having a chat with a few people over the next couple of weeks and putting some plans down for the rest of the year to make sure I’m where I want to be next year.”

A new personal best is a realistic target, as is breaking into the world’s top 20 and competing in the marathon at next year’s World Championships in London.

Having suffered the heartbreak of being unable to finish the Commonwealth Games marathon in Glasgow two years ago because of an injury sustained halfway through the race, Dixon proved she belongs at the highest level when she held her own in a top-class field in Rio.

The experience of competing at the Games was everything she had hoped it would be, and even now, she admits she is still coming down from the euphoria of a remarkable few weeks.

“This year was all about making the Olympic Games, and I managed to do that,” she said. “I went out there and loved every second of the Games. I probably enjoyed it a bit too much to be honest! There’s literally been a permanent smile on my face since April.

“The whole thing was amazing. I always said that once I got to Heathrow Airport, it would finally hit me that I was going to the Olympic Games, and that’s what happened. I was checking in right behind Chris Froome, and there was Andy Murray and Princess Anne on the same flight.

“I was just thinking, ‘This is surreal – I’m going to wake up in a minute and it’s all going to be a dream’. Then you get into the Olympic Village, and it’s just absolutely amazing. I’d planned to go out and see other parts of Rio, but I just didn’t have time because I wanted to watch the GB athletes in all the other sports.”

Having taken three weeks out of training in the immediate aftermath of the Olympics, Dixon always knew it would be a challenge to keep up with the leaders in Sunday’s Great North Run.

In the end, she finished around four minutes behind winner, Vivian Cheruiyot, but her participation was always going to be more about embracing her native North-East rather than chasing a career-best time.

“It’s the North-East, so you’ve got to do it,” she said. “I wasn’t out there going for times or positions, it was just a case of going out there to enjoy it and give a thank you to all the guys who have supported me week in, week out around the North-East.

“It was amazing coming through that last mile – I think I probably ran a mile-and-a-half weaving across the road to high-five people who were shouting for me. I’ve got blisters on my hands, but I really enjoyed it.”