Weir and Jones-Hall complete British double on Tyneside

David Weir added yet another Great North Run wheelchair title to his ever-growing collection, with an imperious performance in South Shields resulting in an eighth triumph, while Jade Jones-Hall triumphed in the women’s race.

The Londoner raced home in 43 minutes and 31 seconds, five seconds clear of Canadian Brent Lakatos as the partisan home crowds willed him to glory.

After setting a course record in last year’s edition, conditions made the 40-year-old work a little harder this time around, but he was delighted to get back to winning ways with plenty of milestones ahead.

“It’s a great way to blow the cobwebs out, because I haven’t raced since the London Marathon,” he said.

“I had a bit of time out after that, enjoyed my 40th birthday and got back into the swing of things. I’ve got Berlin in a couple of weeks, then Chicago, then New York, so this is a good one to blow out all the cobwebs and work on a few things over the next couple of weeks.

“It wasn’t as fast as last year, because we had a massive tail-wind and this year there was none.

“Brent pushed me all the way, we were pretty much neck-and-neck throughout the race, and it was a good race for me.

“It was nice to be back after London, which was a bit disappointing for me, but I feel fit and healthy.”

In the women’s race, Jones-Hall made it a British double as she took top spot for her first win at the event.

She beat out competition from compatriot Shelly Woods to finish the race in 50.15, 1m 26s clear.

“It was hard work,” she said.

“I’m really happy with it – all my training has been focused towards triathlon, so it’s nice to see that it can cross over a little bit and I can still do a little bit of road racing.

“I always love racing on the road, so it’s always nice to be able to come out and see everybody on the road.”