Farah eyeing a hat-trick after second Great North Run triumph

Farah trailed Stanley Biwott for large parts of the race but produced a perfectly-timed sprint to overhaul the Kenyan in the last 400 metres and triumph by one second.

His time of 59:22 minutes was the fastest half-marathon by a British athlete and is the latest victory in a season that has also seen him claim gold in both the 5,000m and the 10,000m at the World Championships in Beijing.

And Farah insists a vociferous home crowd made the difference when it came to the thrilling finish.

"It took a lot out of me. The crowd were amazing and always give massive support," said the 32-year-old.

"If it wasn't for the crowd edging me towards the end it definitely would have been a different result.

"Over the years the Great North Run is getting better and better. I definitely want to come back and see if I can do a hat-trick.

"It's been an amazing year and I couldn't have a better year than this."

In the women's race, Kenya's Mary Keitany retained the title she won last year while British duo David Weir and Shelly Woods won a sixth men's wheelchair and a seventh women's wheelchair crown respectively.

© Sportsbeat 2015