Posted: September 21, 2004

Athletics: Brown Joins Great North Run

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

Organizers of next Sunday's BUPA Great North Run half-marathon have announced that Welshman Jon Brown has been added to the field.

"He's really looking forward to flying over for the race, seeing it is a worthy challenge," said Matthew Turnbull, the event's athletics director.

Brown, 33, finished fourth at the Olympic Marathon on 29-Aug, just 15 seconds out of the medals. He had also finished fourth at the Olympic Marathon in Sydney in 2000, seven seconds out of the medals.

"When I first tried to get him into the race he wasn't keen, feeling he needed plenty of recovery time after undergoing such a tough ordeal (in Athens)," continued Turnbull. "But fortunately he's recovered and his training must have clearly suggested he can make an impact next weekend."

Living in British Columbia, Canada, Brown has a long trip ahead of him to make it to the starting line next Sunday in Newcastle. There, he'll face --among others-- defending champion Hendrik Ramaala of South Africa, who won the Dam to Dam 10 mile race in Holland last Sunday; European Championships bronze medalist in the marathon, Julio Rey of Spain; and the European record co-holder for the marathon, Benoit Zwierzchiewski of France.

Organizers claim to have 49,000 runners entered.