22.10.2009

Mottram to return for the green and gold

Distance running star Craig Mottram will headline the Australian team to contest the 2009 Chiba Ekiden relay, his first outing since last year’s Great Australian Run and first appearance in the green and gold since the Beijing Olympics.

Twenty-nine-year-old Mottram will open the Australian charge at the November 23 meet before handing the traditional Ekiden sash to teammates Tim Rowe, Kane Wille, Sarah Jamieson, Nikki Chapple and Clare Geraghty.

The three-time Olympian, three-time world championships representative and 2006 Commonwealth Games silver medallist will return to action following a lengthy layover due to injury as he looks towards the 2009/10 Australian domestic season and qualification for next year’s Commonwealth Games.

New South Wales duo Ben St Lawrence and Eloise Wellings have been named male and female reserves and if not given the call-up to the Ekiden team will contest a 5000m track race.

The annual Ekiden event in Chiba, Japan, sees mixed teams of six athletes race over varying distances to cover a full marathon run of 42.195km.

The meet marks the first senior international appearance for 20-year-old Victorian Kane Wille and 23-year-old Queenslander Clare Geraghty, who gained selection to the team following their impressive runs at the national cross country championships in August where they placed fifth and first respectively.

Wille went on to finish fourth over 12km at the City to Bay event in Adelaide last month, crossing the line in a time of 35:14 and last weekend placed fifth in Tasmania’s Burnie Ten event (30:13), one place ahead of Ekiden teammate Tim Rowe in sixth (30:20).

Since opting out of the world championships in August through injury Jamieson, the reigning Australian champion over 5000m, has taken out the women’s 12km City to Bay event in Adelaide and earlier this month won the 10km event held in conjunction with the Melbourne Marathon.

Recent Great North City Games two-miler Nikki Chapple rounds out the women’s selections, the Victorian entering the event in promising form following her fifth-fastest half marathon of all time by an Australian woman at the Great North Run last month, stopping the clock at 1:10.03.

The 2009 edition of the Chiba relay event will follow the traditional Ekiden format as set out below:
Leg 1 - Men 5km (Craig Mottram)
Leg 2 - Women 5km (Sarah Jamieson or Clare Geraghty)
Leg 3 - Men 10km (Tim Rowe or Kane Wille)
Leg 4 - Women 5km (Sarah Jamieson or Clare Geraghty)
Leg 5 - Men 10km (Tim Rowe or Kane Wille)
Leg 6 - Women 7.195km (Nikki Chapple)

The running order will be finalised following the athletes’ arrival in Chiba.

In 2008 the Australian team of Ben St Lawrence (5km), Melinda Vernon (5km), Shawn Forrest (10km), Tara Palm (5km), Tim Rowe (10km) and Lara Tamsett (7.195km) placed fifth in a time of 2:09.36 behind a victorious Ethiopian outfit in 2:05.27.

Australia has a proud history at the Chiba Ekiden meet, highlighted by wins in the men’s event in 1991, 1992 and 1995. Since 2007 the Chiba Ekiden relay has been run as a co-gender event.

Men (4)
5km: Craig Mottram (29, Vic)
10km: Tim Rowe (25, NSW)
10km: Kane Wille (20, Vic)
Reserve: Ben St Lawrence (27, NSW)

Women (4)
5km: Clare Geraghty (23, Qld)
5km: Sarah Jamieson (34, Vic)
7.195km: Nikki Chapple (28, Vic)
Reserve: Eloise Wellings (26, NSW)