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Six-times Great North Run winner Sir Mo Farah crosses in one hour, three minutes and 28 seconds, high-fiving dozens of people lining the route down the home straight in what will be his final competitive race; Farah finishes fourth behind winner Tamirat Tola

Sir Mo Farah went out with a bang in Newcastle

Britain’s Mo Farah finished fourth at the Great North Run half-marathon in Newcastle on Sunday in what the distance running great said would be his final competitive race.

Wearing a bib that read “Sir Mo,” the six-times Great North Run winner crossed in one hour, three minutes and 28 seconds, high-fiving dozens of people lining the route down the home straight.

Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola, the 2022 world marathon champion, won in 59:58 to erase his disappointing marathon at the worlds last month in Budapest where he did not finish.

Peres Jepchirchir won the women’s race in 1:06.45.

The 40-year-old Farah is a six-times world champion and four times Olympic champion. He raced to gold medals in the 5,000m and 10,000m in both the 2013 and 2015 world championships and repeated the golden double at both the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics.

Farah was cheered home by a home crowd in his final race

“It’s amazing support,” he told the BBC. “I wanted to come out here and celebrate.

Without the crowd I wouldn’t have got through it. It’s very important to have a race like this. Without the support and community in Newcastle, it wouldn’t be the same.

“There was a lot going through my mind [on Sunday]. I wanted to end my career here in Newcastle. I’ve won it six times and come here off the back of Olympics and World Championships.

“Running is everything to me. I shared my story of what I went through as a child. Without having something to do and make me happy, it would have been very difficult for me.”