Bupa Great North Run to host battle of legends Farah, Bekele, Gebrselassie

The Bupa Great North Run looks like it will be living up to the “great” part of its name as race officials announced that double Olympic gold-medallist Mo Farah will be joining fellow Olympic champions Kenenisa Bekele and Haile Gebrselassie at this year’s half-marathon.

“No one could ask for a better ‘dream team’ to participate in their event and we are delighted they will feature in what has the makings of the greatest head-to-head in half-marathon history,” said race founder Brendan Foster.

Farah, Bekele and Gebrselassie and considered three of the greatest runners of all time. To sign up all three in the same race is a major coup for the organizers of the Sept. 15 event, which runs on a point-to-point course in the U.K. from Newcastle to South Shields.

Farah won the gold medals in both the 5000m and 10,000m at the 2012 London Games and has displayed a wide range of mastery at race distances with recent British records in both the 1500m and half-marathon (1:00:59 set in New Orleans in February). The Great North Run is part of Farah’s preparations for his much-anticipated marathon debut next April at the London Marathon.

“I competed in the mile and two-mile events on Great North Run weekend in past years and am delighted to make my debut in the main event,” Farah said. “This year promises to be a great race with me against Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele … I remember watching Haile win the 2000 Olympic Games in a sprint finish in Sydney when I was just 17 years old.”

Gebrselassie, who turned 40 in April, is the veteran runner of the group. He won the Great North Run three years ago in 59 minutes and took the world half-marathon title back in 2001. Gebrselassie is the former half-marathon and marathon world-record holder and set his half-marathon PB of 58:55 seven years ago in Phoenix, Arizona.

Bekele, who holds the world records in the 5000m and 10,000m and won double Olympic gold at those distances in 2008, is making his half-marathon debut. Earlier this year, Bekele won the Great Ireland Run 10K in 28:51, nearly a minute slower than his win (and course record) the previous year.