Tadesse, the first Eritrean from any sport to win an Olympic medal having taken the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres in Athens last year, claimed the Great North title at his first attempt and in only his second half-marathon race.

Barely had the organisers had time to register Tadesse’s 59min 5sec when the day was darkened by news of four deaths among the competitors. In warm conditions for halfmarathon running and in a record field of 40,000 runners, it was the worst day for casualties in the history of the event. Tadesse, though, was oblivious to the mass participation element of the field. A viciously quick seventh mile, covered in 4min 15sec, took the former cyclist clear of his only challenger, Dejene Berhanu, the defending champion and course record-holder, from Ethiopia. Reaching ten-miles in 44:34, only ten seconds slower than Haile Gebrselassie’s world record for that distance, Tadesse was within clear reach of his target, which was to beat Berhanu’s course record.

As Tadesse arrived on the sea front at South Shields, barely 50 minutes after leaving Newcastle, the course record of 59:37 looked certain to fall. But could he beat the 59:06 of Paul Tergat, the marathon world record-holder from Kenya, which had stood since 2000 as the fastest time in history?

Some 400 metres from home Tadesse raised his pace to a sprint, reaching the line in 59:05. Yet it was not Tergat’s time that spurred on Tadesse, only the desire to do the best he could. “What happened, what happened?” Tadesse said to Julia Garcia, his manager, as spectators close to the finish applauded the announcement of a world best time.

“He had no idea,” Garcia said. Tadesse, 23, who speaks no English, added later, through an interpreter: “My aim was to finish in the first three and perhaps try to improve the course record.”

Tadesse seemed bemused by the turn of events and his time is not a world record. The International Association of Athletics Federations has rules governing courses that qualify for road records and the Great North Run falls outside the world governing body’s set criteria because its start and finish points are farther apart than 50 per cent of the race distance and the decrease in elevation between start and finish exceeds one metre per kilometre. As was the case yesterday, tail winds can lead to assisted fast times when the course is largely in one direction. As the Lisbon course on which Tergat recorded 59:06 is also outside IAAF regulations, the world record is held by Samuel Wanjiru, of Kenya, set in Rotterdam at 59:16.

Before yesterday, Tadesse’s half-marathon personal best stood at 61.:26. Any prospect of a rest and perhaps a chance to spend some of his US$10,000 (about £5,540) in time bonuses, seems unlikely, though, with the half-marathon World Championships to be held on Saturday week in Edmonton, Canada. “He needs to rest but the (Eritrean) Federation will want him to run — and the Federation is boss,” Garcia said.

Berhanu was unchallenged in second place, recording 60:44, with Hendrick Ramaala, from South Africa, the 1997 and 2003 champion, third in 62.25. Surprisingly, John Mayock beat Jon Brown as the first Briton home, sixth to the double Olympic fourth placer’s eighth.

Derartu Tulu, the double Olympic 10,000 metres champion, has a record of success that extends also to multiple world cross-country and track titles. Victory in the Great North Run, however, has proven more elusive, but she put that right yesterday winning the women’s title at the sixth attempt, pulling away in the tenth mile to record 67:33. “Finally,” Tulu said when asked for her reaction to her win.