Great description of the race from IAAF:
Men’s race
With the early morning damp disappearing under north east England’s thin autumn sunshine conditions were almost perfect by the time the elite men set off half an hour after the women and at the head of a mass field of 50,000 hopeful pairs of legs.
While most of them were still struggling towards the start line, Morocco’s world marathon champion Jaouad Gharib had already clipped through the first mile in 4:17 and sped across the Tyne Bridge at a pace that only three others were prepared to match.
That small group quickly became five when Ethiopia’s Dejene Berhanu joined Gharib, Ritzenhein, Ramaala and Kenya’s Rodgers Rop, with Italy’s Olympic marathon champion Stefano Baldini running his own race alongside Kenya’s Wilberforce Talel some 50 metres behind.
That gap grew when Ramaala put in one of his customary bursts after 30 minutes of running. He clocked 4:24 for the seventh mile to pull Berhanu a few metres clear of the American and Gharib, and 4:26 for the eighth, which saw the end of Rop.
Ritzenhein had predicted he would “stick his nose in amongst the big boys and see what happens” and the American was certainly getting a sniff of top class road racing. But the man nicknamed “Ritz cracker” was far from overawed by the ebb and flow of the pace and he dragged himself back into contention, passing Gharib on the way.
With only three miles left, Ritzenhein was back on level terms with Berhanu and Ramaala. Perhaps sensing the danger from the largely unknown American, Ramaala put in another surge as he aimed for his third Great North title.
With two miles left, the South African opened a gap of 10 metres on Berhanu and left the steady Ritzenhein another 10 metres behind. Berhanu’s effort to stay with Ramaala appeared to have cost him as Ritzenhein, running his own even rhythm, closed the gap again and moved into second.
While Ramaala, running 4:38 for both the 12th and 13th miles, had done enough to secure his Great North Run hat trick, the battle for the minor places was far from over. As they strained towards the finish Berhanu found one last ounce of energy to creep past Ritzenhein and snatch second place by just three seconds.
“I love this course,” said Ramaala after completing the slowest of his three victories. “It wasn’t the hardest race and much easier than 2003.
“It was kind of a tactical race today,” added Ramaala, who only arrived in England from Johannesburg two days ago. “I felt heavy in the first half but I think my body was just waiting for the race to get going.
“I made a couple of surges around 10 and 11km and got rid of some of the runners but then I decided to save myself for the finish. Some of the hills here are a little bit mean.”
Ramaala will now be full of confidence for the New York Marathon early in November when he will attempt to regain the title he won in 2004 and lost by inches to Paul Tergat last year.
Morale-booster for debutante Ritzenhein
This time he will have a new challenger, for Ritzenhein emerged from today’s race with a morale boosting performance behind him. The American was rewarded for ingoring the surging Africans and sticking to his own race plan with a time well inside his target of 62 minutes.
“The pace was all over the place,” said the 23-year-old. “I tried to be smart and run a more even rhythm. And at some points I moved up to let them know I am not intimidated.
“I picked this race because I knew a lot of New York contenders would be here,” he added. “As for the New York Marathon, I don’t want to put any limits on myself. A lot can happen in a marathon but after today I am full of confidence and even think I can win it.”
Ramaala, Tergat and the rest, take note.