THE 40th edition of the Great North Run was always going to be special after last year’s event had to be cancelled because of Covid, but for Northallerton’s Marc Scott, yesterday’s race on a redesigned course around Newcastle was a true once-in-a-lifetime moment.

The Richmond & Zetland Harrier became the first North-East or North Yorkshire-born winner of the Great North Run’s elite men’s race since Northumberland-born Mike McLeod triumphed in the second edition of the world’s greatest half-marathon back in 1982.

By his own admission, Scott endured a difficult Olympic Games in Tokyo last month, failing to fire in either the 5,000m or 10,000m as a foot issue proved his undoing.

However, the 27-year-old bounced back in style yesterday, triumphing in a time of one hour, one minute and 22 seconds to claim the Great North Run title that had gone to Sir Mo Farah in each of the last six renewals of the race.

“It’s amazing to be following in the footsteps of the great names that have won this event,” said Scott, who started his running career in North Yorkshire before relocating to the United States after being offered a sports scholarship at the University of Tulsa.

“It’s obviously a little different with the course and the circumstances, but it’ll be no different when you see your name in the paper as the winner. It’s great to follow in the footsteps of Mo, and great names like that.

“It was a really good feeling – just knowing that people on the streets knew who I was and who I run for. I didn’t have my Richmond vest on today, but it’s just great to have that local pride and feeling of all the people on the streets there.”

Scott outpaced Kenya’s Ed Cheserek in the closing stages of yesterday’s race, which was staged on an amended course that started and finished on Newcastle’s Central Motorway, to avoid the usual mass finish in South Shields.

He was among the front runners throughout, and timed his finishing surge to perfection as he finished nine second clear of second-placed Cheserek and almost a minute ahead of third-place finisher and Olympic medallist Galen Rupp.

“It was really difficult,” said Scott. “The last three miles were basically all uphill. It was just difficult to get into a rhythm with the ups and the downs continuously, but I’m obviously delighted to have come away with the win.

“It’s just incredible to have all the crowds and the mass participation back. The streets were lined with people, which is obviously what the Great North Run is known for. It was great to have all the support, and especially with being from 30 minutes down the road, it was good to have people shouting my name the whole way.”

Eilish McColgan, daughter of Scottish three-time women’s winner Liz, just failed to make it a GB double as she finished second in the elite women’s race on her first attempt at the Great North Run.

McColgan finished six seconds behind Kenyan winner Hellen Obiri, and more than a minute clear of third-placed fellow Brit, Charlotte Purdue.

Sean Frame was an easy winner of the men’s wheelchair race, while Shelly Woods celebrated Great North Run success for the eighth time in the women’s wheelchair section.