Africans dominated the Great North Run yesterday with Kenya’s Wilson Kipsang taking the men’s title and Ethiopia’s Olympic 10,000m champion Tirunesh Dibaba winning the women’s race.

The half marathon, Britain’s biggest mass-participation run, saw Kipsang produce a scintillating sprint finish to beat fellow Kenyan Micah Kogo on the line with a time of 59 minutes six seconds.

Kipsang also won this year’s London Marathon and took a bronze medal over the distance at the Olympics.

Three-times Olympic Games champion Dibaba, who was making her debut at the half-marathon distance, saw off the challenge of 2011 world mara-thon champion Edna Kiplagat to cross the line first in 67 minutes 35 seconds.

Britain’s 5,000m and 10,000m Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah did not take part in the race after deciding to rest following his summer feats but acted as one of the official starters as 55,000 people tackled the route from Newcastle to South Shields.

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