Craig Mottram Defends His Healthy Kidney 10k Title By David Monti (c) 2006 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved May 20, 2006
NEW
YORK (20-May) -- Craig Mottram successfully defended his title here
today at the second annual Healthy Kidney 10-K, but he narrowly missed
a special $10,000 record bonus.
Surging early in the fourth
kilometer, the Commonwealth Games silver medalist at 5000m quickly
found himself alone, passing through the 5 km mark in 14:05, just
slightly off pace for the Central Park record of 28:10 set by Kenyan
Paul Koech in 1997. He was trailed by Kenyan Linus Maiyo and New
Yorker Anthony Famiglietti by three seconds.
But in the second
half of the race, running into a slight headwind, Mottram extended his
lead with every kilometer and the only matter left unsettled was
whether he would get Koech's record and pocket the $10,000 bonus.
Mustering a strong sprint of less than 66 seconds for the final --and
uphill-- 400m, Mottram broke the tape in 28:13, just three seconds off
of the mark. Nonetheless, he smashed his event record of 28:28 set
last year. The one loop circuit in the Park is quite hilly and the
course actually gains a small amount of elevation from start to finish.
Mottram
prolonged his streak of 10-K road race victories to 12 stretching back
to 2001. He also won this third consecutive road race in New York
City; in addition to his Healthy Kidney victory last year, he also won
the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile last September.
Mottram's
training partner, Mohamed Farah of England, passed both Maiyo and
Famiglietti in the second half to finish second in a personal best
28:37. Famiglietti passed Maiyo to finish third, 28:40 to 28:46.
Moroccan Mohamed Amyn finished fifth in 29:01.
Part of the New
York Road Runners' Professional Racing Series, the Healthy Kidney 10-K
paid out $23,500 in prize money, including special awards for New York
Road Runners' members. Mottram won $7,500 in prize money, with Farah
winning $5,000 and Famiglietti --who was also given a New York Road
Runners member award-- winning $4,000.
The
race, sponsored by the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, raises
money for the National Kidney Foundation. Approximately 6,000 runners
signed up for the race, while 4,753 were officially recorded as
finishing.
