New Marske Harrier Ricky Stevenson stormed to the biggest victory of his career at the Great Edinburgh Cross Country on Saturday.

Stevenson beat a number of world class athletes including Olympic finalists Mo Farah and Andy Baddeley on the way to winning the short course race of just over four kilometres.

Five thousand metre specialist Farah set a blistering pace from the off, opening a 50 metre gap within the half mile.

But Stevenson was patient, easing his way through the field to get on the back of Farah and Englishman Steve Vernon going into the last lap.

And the 1500metre specialist showcased his rapid change of speed over the last 200metres, opening a three second gap on Vernon and eight seconds on the fading Farah.

Ricky said: “It felt really easy throughout the race.

“Obviously on the last lap, when it began to pick up it felt a little harder, but I thought I’m not going to get many opportunities to win a race like this, so I hit the front and smashed it.”

He added: “It’s a big breakthrough for me.

“Some of the best athletes in the world were in the race, so to come up against them, and beat them is obviously a fantastic feeling.”

It’s turning out to be another excellent season for the Steve Shaw coached athlete.

And performances such as the one at the weekend are catching people’s eye.

Ricky jets out to New York later this month to compete in the New Balance games over a mile, before heading home to run the National Cross Country Championships and defend his British University indoor 3000metre title.

The biggest shock of the day in Edinburgh came in the men’s long race, with 11-time World Cross Champion Kenenisa Bekele being well beaten into fourth place.

It was the first outing for the multiple Olympic champion since the summer, but the cold, icy conditions obviously had an effect and Bekele was broken early on by Kenyans Titus Mbishei and eventual winner Joseph Ebuya.

In the women’s race, Steph Twell bounced back from her poor recent form to finish fifth in a race dominated by Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba who won comfortably.

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