Craig Mottram

Craig Mottram

Personal information
Nationality	Australian
Born	18 June 1980 (1980-06-18) (age 31) Frankston, Victoria, Australia
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	71 kg (160 lb; 11.2 st)
Sport
Sport	Running
Event(s)	5000 m
Medal record Competitor for  Australia Men's athletics World Championships Bronze 2005 Helsinki 5000 m Commonwealth Games Silver 2006 Melbourne 5000 m

Craig Mottram is an Australian long distance and middle distance runner.

Biography

Born on 18 June 1980 in Frankston, Victoria, Mottram specialises in the 5000 m event. He attended the prestigious Geelong Grammar School. At 6 feet 2 inches he is unusually tall for a distance runner.

Amongst some African runners he is known as the Big Mzungu (Big White Man). He is a supporter of English Premier League club Sunderland^[1] and ran in the Great North Run 2006, wearing a Sunderland shirt.

Career

Mottram competed in his first Olympic Games at only 20 years of age in the 5000-meter event: he did not qualify out of his heat, but finished in 8th place with a respectable time of 13 minutes, 31.06 seconds in Sydney. He would fare better in his next Olympic competition: with four additional years of experience and athletic maturity, Mottram qualified for the final of the 5000-meter event and finished 8th with a time of 13:25.70 in Athens.

In 2005, he set a course record to win the Great Ireland Run in a third consecutive win at the competition. On 14 August 2005, Mottram reached a career highlight, coming third in the 5000 m event at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki, running the event in 13 minutes, 32.96 seconds. He was the first non-African to receive a medal in that event since 1987.

On 9 March 2006 in Melbourne, in his final warmup event before the Commonwealth Games, Mottram took ten seconds off the 12-year-old Australian record for the 2000 metres. This distance, not often run at IAAF events, was scheduled specifically to suit Mottram's Games preparation.

On 20 March 2006 at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Mottram came second in the 5000 m event with a time of 12 minutes, 58.19 seconds, beaten narrowly by Kenyan runner Augustine Choge.^[2] This race was only the second time that this event was won in under 13 minutes at a championship competition (first one being 2003 World Athletics Championships.)^[3] Mottram also ran in the 1500 m event in Melbourne on 25 March 2006, entering the competition as favourite to win. Having worked his way into third position during the race, Mottram was accidentally tripped at the 800 metre mark when English athlete Andrew Baddeley fell behind him, clipping Mottram's heel. Mottram lost 20 metres on the field due to the incident and finished in ninth position, to his and his supporters' obvious disappointment.^[4]

In 2007 Craig started the year on a high, dominating "the Kenyan Hope" of Boniface Songkok at the Telstra A series in Melbourne. The race was a conservative one before Craig tore the field open with a quick 7th lap before a devastating final 400 m run in 53 seconds. At the Prefontaine Classic In Eugene (Oregon), Craig ran the 5th fastest 2-mile of all time in 8:03.50 leaving in his wake the likes Alan Webb, Tariku Bekele, Matt Tegenkemp, Dathan Ritzenhein and other American hopefuls. After a good start to the season Craig suffered a hamstring strain. This affected his training for the World Championships, where he finished 11th.

2008 was an up and down season for Craig. He won the Melbourne Grand Prix 5000 m and the National Championship 5000 m and 3000 m. Craig then competed at the 2008 Indoor Championships in Valencia were he placed 5th in the final. Craig then contested the Boston Indoor Grand Prix were he won the 3000 m and broke the meet record of Haile Gebrselassie. Craig hit form after he won the Stockholm Grand Prix 3000 m and placed 4th in the 1 Mile. Craig also ran a 3:57.90 mile finishing 2nd to Bernard Lagat at the prestigious Millrose games in February 2008.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Mottram placed 5th in the first heat of the 5000 in 13min 44.39sec and did not advance to the final.^[5] Following this disappointment, Mottram split from coach Nick Bideau, choosing to self-coach.^[6]

Due to injuries, he did not compete in the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Berlin. That year, after running for Nike for all of his professional career, Mottram signed a contract with Adidas. He also accepted a coaching offer from Australian distance running coach Chris Wardlaw, who has coached marathon legend Steve Moneghetti among others.^[7]

In late November 2009 Craig made a return from his 12 month absence from racing, clocking 13 minutes and 23 seconds in the opening 5 km leg of the Chiba Ekiden Relay in Japan. This performance put his Australian team in first place, before they dropped to 7th. His time of 13:23 was just outside the event record.

In the 2010 season he won the Great Yorkshire Run in Sheffield, beating home favourite Chris Thompson to the line by just one second.^[8] He beat Chris Thompson again on 18 September 2010 by one second in a close finish at the Great North City Games 2 mile event in 8.31. [1]

Personal best times

• 1500 metres 3:33.97 (Zurich, Switzerland, 08/18/2006)
• Mile 3:48.98 (Oslo, Norway, 07/29/2005, Oceanic Record)
• 2000 metres 4:50.76 (Melbourne, Australia, 03/09/2006, Oceanic Record)
• 3000 metres 7:32.19 (Athens, Greece, 09/17/2006, Oceanic Record)
• 2 miles 8:03.50 (Eugene, Oregon, 06/10/2007, Oceanic Record)
• 5000 metres 12:55.76 (London, England, 07/30/2004, Oceanic Record)
• 10,000 metres 27:34.48 (Stanford, United States, 05/04/2008)
• 10 km (road) 27:54 (Manchester, England, 05/23/2004, Oceanic Record)

References

1. ^ http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:clIU2-1TdwQJ:www.ukathletics.net/tvevents/news/article-27/+craig+mottram+sunderland&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=uk
2. ^ Ellen Whinnett and Shelley Hodgson (2006-03-21). "Craig Mottram's brave run". Herald Sun. http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,18542403%255E2862,00.html. 
3. ^ Nick Bowen (2006-03-21). "Craig Mottram's silver medal the best of the Games". Crikey.com.au. 
4. ^ Luke Pentony (2006-03-26). "That's racing". ABC News. http://www.abc.net.au/sport/columns/200603/s1601033.htm. 
5. ^ "Port stars reveal racism still rife". http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/beijing_olympics/story/0,27313,24213885-5014197,00.html. 
6. ^ "Bideau's methods are make or break". The Sydney Morning Herald. 22 March 2006. http://www.smh.com.au/news/commentary/mottrams-manipulator/2006/03/21/1142703363720.html. 
7. ^ http://www.runblogrun.com/2009/02/craig_mottram_to_run_for_adida_1.html
8. ^ Mills, Steven (2010-09-05). Murray defends Yorkshire 10km title. Athletics Weekly. Retrieved on 2010-09-06.

External links

• IAAF profile for Craig Mottram
• Athletics Australia profile
• Australian Broadcasting Corporation website for 2006 Commonwealth Games
• Listings of all-time performances in events

Video interview

• Flotrack.com Video Interviews of Craig Mottram

More Videos from the Prefontaine Classic

• Video 1
• Video 2

Persondata
Name	Mottram, Craig
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	18 June 1980
Place of birth	Frankston, Victoria, Australia
Date of death
Place of death