Now Mo's ready to go (From Your Local Guardian)

Now Mo's ready to go

10:59am Wednesday 28th May 2008 in Sport By Tom Pollak

Teddington-based European 5000m silver medallist Mo Farah and former Richmond-based star Mara Yamauchi battled through atrocious weather conditions as they continued their preparations for the Olympics by running in the inaugural Bupa London 10km Road Race on Bank Holiday Monday.

For the first part of the course, as the runners headed towards St Paul's Cathedral, not only did they have to contend with heavy rain but they also fought against a strong easterly headwind.

Farah was with the leading men's group from the start in Birdcage Walk although in the final 3km he found the pace of the leaders just too fast and finished third.

He reached the finish in sight of Buckingham Palace in The Mall in 28 minutes, 39 seconds, behind Kenyan Micah Kog (28:08) and Eritrean Zerseany Tadese (28:15).

"I really enjoyed that, although my priority is now the Olympics. I want to stay strong and injury free," said Farah.

"The pace over the last 3km was just too fast and I lost contact."

Farah trains with Kogo and admitted he benefited from training with an athlete of his ability.

He added: "I know him really well. It's really nice to train with someone as good as him, and he is a class athlete."

Cheam-based Kevin Quinn was 14th in the men's race in 32:23 and Thames Hare & Hounds' Ian Chisholm was 15th in 32:50.

Yamauchi, wearing a white cap against the incessant rain, ran a solid race to finish second in the women's event behind Germany's Irina Mikitenko, the surprise winner of the London Marathon last month.

The German won by 24 seconds in 32:02 although Yamaucha felt she was closing on the leader in the final stages along the Victoria Embankment.

"I was closing on her, but the gap was too large," she admitted. "We were together until about halfway, but I couldn't quite stay with her.

"I am really pleased. This was a bit of a sharpener really. I've been doing a lot of endurance-type training and I didn't have much speed in my legs."

Belgrave's Birhan Dagne was seventh in the women's race in 33:52. Vicki Gill, who works in Teddington, was ninth in 34:40 with Surrey's Natalie Harvey 11th in 36:22.

Olympic legend Lasse Viren, who won an incredible double-double in the 5,000m and 10,000m at the 1972 and 1976 Games, started off the 10,000 runners in wet and windy conditions.