2017 Great Edinburgh Cross Country Results: Leonard Korir Edges Callum Hawkins, Mo Farah 7th
by LetsRun.com
January 7, 2017
The big race of the day and the most exciting at the Great Edinburgh Cross Country festival was the men’s race where American Garrett Heath was going for his 4th straight win in Edinburgh versus Olympic legend Mo Farah.
British marathoner Callum Hawkins ruined the coronation plans of Heath and Farah as he took it out hard and soon Farah was off the back of the leader and then after that Heath cracked as well. The only guy who could stay close to Hawkins was USA 10,000m Olympian Leonard Korir, who managed to just hang on to Hawkins’ slipstream until the final lap on the true cross country course. With under a half mile to go, Korir took the lead for the first time and then Hawkins responded with a huge surge that gave him a roughly 10-meter lead atop the final hill with less than 300 meters to go.
The race appeared to be Hawkins’ but Korir refused to quit and flew down the hill after Hawkins. In the final 100m, he caught Hawkins who responded to briefly keep the lead, but Hawkins had nothing left and Korir came back for the win.
Afterwards Korir told BBC he didn’t think he would win, but he refused to quit. He said he was thinking, “I’m #2, I’m #2, but I’m going to give it my all.” Hawkins said, “This guy just wouldn’t leave me alone.”
Mo Farah finished 7th, 46 seconds behind the winners and said, “[It’s] not what I wanted but it’s where I am.” He said he did a workout 10 days ago and knew that the race would be a struggle for him but wanted to run with the British team. “Cross country is where I started. I’m not panicking at this point. It’s early,” he said.
Men’s Results: Leonard Korir Edges Callum Hawkins
Men’s finish (better quality video here, but this shows more of the finish)
https://twitter.com/Sports4Life007/status/817765604463640577
Women’s Results: Yasemin Can of Turkey Wins
Junior Boys: Noah Affolder Wins Boy XC
Full results from the earlier junior men's race #GEXC2017 pic.twitter.com/EEjLB0WPhy
— British Athletics (@BritAthletics) January 7, 2017
Junior Girls: Harriet Knowles-Jones Wins
Full results from the junior women's race which was superbly won by Britain's @KJHarriet #GEXC2017 pic.twitter.com/kgZoMtHidp
— British Athletics (@BritAthletics) January 7, 2017
Video Highlights of Races (Set to start on men’s race. Rewind for others)