DAVID Moorcroft’s long-serving British record in the 3,000m was finally broken on Sunday after Mo Farah produced a knock-out performance at the Diamond League meeting in Birmingham in memory of his late hero Muhammad Ali.
Coventry athlete Moorcoft had set the record back in 1982 with a time of 7:32.79 but Farah dug deep and his final lap of 59 seconds saw him break the record by just 0.17 seconds.
“I have been trying for about seven years for that record,” said Farah afterwards. “It has stood there for a while and has been hard to beat. But I knew I was in good shape and, when I spoke to the race organiser, Spencer Barden, I told him the British record was possible.
“I went from the gun, straightaway, but I really had to work the last two laps. It was a little bit breezy the last 200m and I had to dig in deep. I could hear the commentator saying: ‘Thirty. All he needs is 30 seconds.’ I thought: I can do it, I can do it.”