05.05.2008

New 10,000m best for Mottram

Craig Mottram has crushed his 10,000m personal best by more than 16 seconds in a confidence boosting win at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational held at Stanford University today.

Moving from seventh to second on the Australian all-time list, his winning time of 27.34.48 was just outside Shaun Creighton's Australian record of 27.31.92.

Mottram’s previous best of 27.50.55 was set back in 2003 at Melbourne’s Olympic Park.

The race unfolded with Britain’s Mo Farah handling the pacing duties from the 3km mark, with a patient Mottram shadowing his every step.

The first 5K was covered in 13:58.1, well off the pace required to meet the Olympic “A” standard.

Thus the tempo increased, Farah dropped off and Mottram made his move at the 8km mark, with Josphat Boit (KEN), Takayuki Matsumiya (JPN) and Günther Weidlinger (AUT) all in tow.

With 600 metres remaining, Mottram put his foot on the gas, storming home in the final two laps in 61.0 and 59.2, holding off a delighted Weidlinger who set a new Austrian record of 27:36.46 and Boit in 27:40.64.

Training partner and fellow Olympic 5000m nominee Collis Birmingham finished 13th in 28:08.23.

Mottram arrived in the United States at the end of last week after a brief break in Melbourne following the World Cross Country Championships.

Unsure if he’d be over jetlag, Mottram and coach Nic Bideau only decided to run on Friday following a good workout at their training base in Mt Laguna.

Mottram now journeys to Flagstaff in Arizona, where he will meet up with Birmingham, Benita Johnson and Nick Bromley for more altitude training, before heading to the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon on June 8.