12 September 2015

Tiffany Porter (coach: Rana Reider) and Jonnie Peacock (Steve Fudge) overcame an early morning flight from Brussels to run out convincing winners in the 100m hurdles and T44 100m respectively at the Great North CityGames.

Porter, who only landed in Newcastle at 10:05 this morning, showed no sign of tiredness and ran quicker on the Quayside track than she did in Belgium yesterday. After a fourth place finish at the Diamond League last night, Porter was in fantastic form to win in 12.77 (+0.7) ahead of Jasmin Stowers and world medallist Cindy Roleder. 

She said afterwards: “This is my fifth consecutive Great CityGames victory. I love the street races, I really thrive off the crowd and it is such a good atmosphere. I actually ran quicker here than I did last night which makes no sense; I didn’t even sleep last night!

“I’m really surprised to run that time but I always seem to have good luck here. The support is awesome, we really appreciate these crowds coming out and cheering for us. To come out here and get the win is really special.”

After victory at the Brussels Diamond League last night in 10.99, Jonnie Peacock (Steve Fudge) once again was victorious over rival Richard Browne in the T44 100m. The American was disqualified for a false start in Belgium last night and had another poor start today which cost him early on. Peacock did not make a mistake and claimed the victory in 11.11 (-0.7) which will act as the perfect preparation ahead of the IPC World Championships next month in Doha.

Peacock commented: “The most important thing was to come out and win, that’s what the competitor in me wants to do but also, I wanted to enjoy it. It’s a great opportunity to show the fans what the sport is all about and let them soak it all in.”

On rivalries in the T44 100m: “It’s awesome racing Richard (Browne). He always brings the best out in me every time we race and I have to step up my game. With the likes of Felix (Streng) coming through, he’s a dark horse who I’m always expecting to do something, and Jarryd (Wallace) also running well, it brings the best out in all of us. Hopefully we’ll all have a lot of fun out in Doha (for the IPC World Championships next month).”

Local man Richard Kilty was narrowly edged into second in the 150m behind the Jamaican Nickel Ashmeade but it was a fine performance from the European Indoor 60m champion. Kilty was leading for the majority of the race but the world 4x100m gold medallist Ashmeade piped him in the final stride, the north east athlete finishing in 14.64 (+3.6).

Kilty said: “It is absolutely phenomenal to come out and race in front of a home crowd. This is my favourite competition of the year and it’s great that so many people came out to support us in this weather.”

World 1500m champion Asbel Kiprop showed his class as he moved into another gear in the final 50m to win the one mile race. The Kenyan was once again behind the pack with 250m to go but overhauled the field to come out on top, recording a time of 4:07.60. Tom Lancashire (Steve Vernon), fourth in Brussels last night was in fine form once again as he finished third in 4:08.52.

World 200m champion Dafne Schippers won the 100m in 11.01 (+1.6) with training partner Desiree Henry (Reider) third in 11.22. American Candyce McGrone won the women’s 150m ahead of world 400m champion Allyson Felix. The race was held in torrential rain and it clearly affected the athletes with McGrone winner in 16.59 with Britain’s Jodie Williams (Christine Bowmaker) fourth in 17.53. Mike Rodgers won the men’s 100m ahead of Chijindu Ujah (Jonas Tawiah-Dodoo), the Brit posting 10.23 (-0.2) for second with James Dasaolu fourth with 10.31.

Lawrence Clarke (Malcolm Arnold) was second in the men’s 110m hurdles behind Shane Braithwaite in 13.64 (+0.9) with Conrad Williams (Linford Christie) the highest placed Brit in the rarely run 500m, finishing third in 1:00.78 – the race was won by Ireland’s Mark English in 59:58. Additionally, Holly Bradshaw (Scott Simpson) continued her comeback from injury jumping 4.55m for second place behind world champion Yarisley Silva, who ended the competition with 4.65m.

Mercy Cherono won the women’s 2 mile race with Futures athlete and European Junior 1500m champion Bobby Clay (Peter Mullervy) the leading Brit in fourth ahead of European 10,000m champion Jo Pavey (Gavin Pavey), over the rarely run distance.

Unfortunately, Olympic, world, European and Commonwealth long jump champion Greg Rutherford (Tawiah-Dodoo) withdrew from the competition after feeling a slight niggle last night. The event was won by South Africa’s Rushwal Sammaai with a third round leap of 7.97m with Dan Bramble jumping a wind assisted 7.93m.

Full results of the Great North CityGames can be found here: http://www.greatcitygames.org/results/newcastlegateshead/2015

The Great North Run will be live on BBC One on Sunday 13 September from 09:30 till 13:30.