For the first time in since 1985, a British male runner has won the Great North Run men's run in North East England. The BBC reports that Mo Farah, age 31, dueled against Mike Kigen of Kenya for first place for most of the run until finally Farah pulled ahead during the final 200m stretch of the 13.1-mile course.

This is quite a comeback for Farah who, last year, lost in a sprint to the finish against Ethiopian runner Kenenisa Bekele.

"I was surprised how well he was running. I didn't think I could run that fast but it is great to finish the season with a win," Farah said.

"Mike kept on pushing and I just wanted to hang on in there and I knew I had the pace at the end."

Farah beat his own best time in the event by running with a time of 60 minutes flat breaking his previous record by 10 seconds adding to his list of records in the 1500m, 5000m, 10000m and on the track and his records in the 5k and 10k on the road.

Farah admits that he has learned a lot from his ups and downs over the year. He came into the run after winning the European Championships in Zurich but missing the Commonwealth Games.

The Express reported that Brendan Foster, the inspiration behind the Great North Run, had nothing but praise for Fosters achievement.

"Mo is quite simply Britain's greatest ever distance runner and could even be the greatest runner of all time from any nation. The likes of me, David Bedford and Chris Chataway were good, but we didn't win anything like the medals Mo has won so to have him back at the Great North Run is a tremendous boost for us," Foster said.

The Guardian reports Farah's main challengers were expected to be Stephen Kiprotich, the Olympic and World marathon champion, and Kenenisa Bekele younger brother Tariku Bekele, the Olympic 10000m bronze medalist.

Both men were left in the back during the first four miles of the run leaving Farah, Kigen and Ugandan runner Thomas Ayegu.

Only two other British men have won the run since its start in 1981. Mike McLeod emerged victorious in the first two runs in 1981 and 1982 followed by Steven Kenyon in 1985. Around 57,000 runners competed in the event.

The run also marked the one-millionth finisher of the run since its beginnings. This will be the first time any event has had such an achievement.