Haile Gebrselassie becoming greatest masters runner ever

After years of dominating the international circuit as one the greatest distance athletes the world has ever seen, Haile Gebrselassie is solidifying his place as one of the top masters-age runners ever also.

Now 40 years old, Gebrselassie won the Great Scottish Run half-marathon in Glasgow over the weekend. His time of 1:01:09 was also good for a course record and bested second place finisher Emmanuel Bett of Kenya. The Ethiopian running legend broke away from Bett with one mile to go and put an impressive 31 seconds on the Kenyan in the final stages of the race. Bett held the fastest time in the world over 10,000m last season.

“After losing out in the last mile at the Bupa Great North Run I had to get clear today and decided to make my move when I did and it worked so well,” Gebrselassie old the BBC. “I’m happy with this win.”

Gebrselassie was outkicked in the final mile of the Bupa Great North run by 10,000m record holder Kenenisa Bekele and Olympic and World champion Mo Farah.

Still world record holder over 20,000m and two-time Olympic champion, Gebreslassie is becoming a symbol of masters-age running with his impressive times and wins still rivaling some of the best in the world at age 40. His career includes multiple world records over varying distances and an astounding nine World Championship titles during his senior competition, in addition to his Olympic titles.

Great Britain’s Sunsan Partridge, a competitor in August’s IAAF World Championships over the marathon distance, won the women’s race in 1:10:40.