William Amponsah finishes 8th among 60,000 athletes at the Great North Run in UK

Ghana’s long-distance runner, William Amponsah, finished 8th in the Great North Run, held in Newcastle, UK over the weekend.

Over 60,000 runners across the world took part in the race, which saw the Ghanaian finish among the top ten runners.

Amponsah crossed the finish line with a time of 1 hour, 3 minutes & 15 seconds in the half marathon race in the Elite Men’s Division.

Amponsah, who is Ghana’s national record holder in the 5,000 meters, raced alongside some of the finest athletes in the world.

Ugandan world record holder, Jacob Kiplimo, won the event, which was his first time competing.

The 21-year-old crossed the line in 59.33 minutes, as Olympic champion Selemon Barega came in second and Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele was third.

Amponsah represented Ghana at the Commonwealth Games as West Africa's half-marathon champion and the first African after Robert Hackman to compete in the 5000m final.

He’s won the 2018 Asante Akyem Marathon, Kwahu Easter Mountain Marathon, and Millennium Half Marathon, and also placed 3rd at the Dubai Marathon.

As a student of the University of Education, Amponsah broke the 5000m, and 10,000m records at the Ghana Universities Sports Association Games.

What an excellent performance William, a huge half marathon PB, congratulations, you made ???????? proud #greatnorthrun2022 pic.twitter.com/z0XrWo5EDx

— Robin Todd (@robinedwardtodd) September 11, 2022