KENYAN athletes landed the first three places in the BUPA Great North

Run from Newcastle to South Shields yesterday.

Benson Masya recorded the world's fastest half-marathon time of the

year, a UK all-comers' record of 60min.02sec, pipping Moses Tanui, the

1991 world 10,000m champion, in a sprint finish.

The pair had been ahead of world-record pace (59-47) until meeting a

wind in the closing stages. Paul Tergat, whose

60-13 was the previous best this year, finished third in 60-42 in a

field of 30,000. The first Briton to finish was Paul Evans, the former

Springburn Harrier, who defected to England's colours, in 61-30.

Commonwealth 5000m champion Rob Denmark was seventh, in 62-37.

Rosanno Munerotto (Italy, 71-29) beat Torbay's Andrea Wallace by five

seconds to win the women's race. Third was Portugal's European marathon

champion, Manuela Machado (71-48). Pitreavie veteran Tricia Thomson was

tenth in 77-35.

* THE former world junior steeplechase champion, Jimmy Muindi, of

Kenya, won the Bangor Classic 10,000m road event in 28-32, with

England's Paul Taylor given the same time in second. Scotland's Tom

Murray was relegated from third to fifth

(29-34), in a sprint finish.

* EDINBURGH Woollen Mill, Scotland's only representatives, scored more

points than when finishing fourth last year, but could manage only fifth

equal in the Guardian British Women's Cup final at Bedford on Saturday.

Even without their European and Commonwealth champions, Sally Gunnell

and Linford Christie, Essex Ladies and Thames Valley were the respective

women's and men's winners. But whereas it was the eighth win for Essex,

it was a first for Thames Valley.

The highlight was a Commonwealth triple-jump record of 14.09m by Ashia

Hansen. Edinburgh's best performer was Allison Curbishley, second in the

400m hurdles (61.66) and third in the flat 400m (56.43).

There were several other thirds: Dawn Flockhart (200m, 24.30),

Caroline Black (long jump, 5.76m), Lorna Jackson (javelin, 47.00m), and

Emma Lindsay (high jump, 1.60m). Match result:

1, Essex 100; 2, Sale 96; 3, Shaftesbury Barnet 80; 4, Coventry Godiva

76; 5= EWM and Birchfield 74[1/2]; 7, Aldershot 63; 8, Cardiff 25.