Weir win on Tyneside

By Paul Carter

British wheelchair racer David Weir stormed to victory at the 2009 Great North Run, shaving almost a minute off his own course record in the process.

Weir, who won two gold medals at the Paralympic Games in Beijing last year, looked back to his best, crossing the line in a time of 41:34, beating his previous mark of 42:33 which had stood since 2005.

It didn’t all go Weir’s way, however, and the 30-year-old from Wallington was pushed hard in the first part of the race, with reigning champion Josh Cassidy of Canada leading at the halfway point.

However, the four-time London Marathon winner showed his class to pull away, eventually finishing 38 seconds ahead of his rival.

“I wanted to go under 45 minutes but from the start I could see it was going to be a quick race,” said Weir.

“Sometimes it’s tough to be out on your own but I made a break from the field before a hill and then pushed again on the hill.

“I’ve been concentrating on the road more this year and I wanted to do well at the back end of the season.

“I really wanted to win today and then hopefully again at the New York Marathon in November.”

However, there was to be no hat trick of Great North Run titles for Blackpool-based athlete Shelly Woods, with the double Paralympic medallist instead opting to compete in the Berlin Marathon.

Woods, 23, finished second in Germany, despite knocking over a minute off the course record.

Beijing Marathon bronze medallist Sandra Graf of Switzerland took the honours, breaking away at the 35km point and maintaining her lead.

Woods did however compete in the traditional warm-up event to the Great North Run: the high-speed, downhill, Tyne Tunnel 2k.

Woods won in a record time of 5.33.4 in a photo finish on the line, ahead of American Amanda McGrory in second place with a time of 5.33.9 and Diane Roy of Canada in third place in 6.00.5.

“You can go over 40mph in the downhill part of the race, so it’s a little scary but great fun,” said Woods.

Weir completed the British double in the event in a time of 4.04.09, clocking up a downhill speed of 44mph in the process.

He finished 7.9 seconds ahead of 2008 winner Josh Cassidy, while Spaniard Roger Verdageur finished third in 4.42.5.