LAGAT AND MOTTRAM SET FOR MILLROSE REMATCH By David Monti (c) 2008 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.
NEW
YORK (30-Jan) -- Sitting next to each other today on barstools as they
faced the press, Craig Mottram and Bernard Lagat almost looked like
drinking buddies. They were relaxed and confident. Praise flowed
freely.
"There's a lot of significance with having a strongathlete like Craig in the race," Lagat said of Friday night's Wanamaker
Mile, the signature event of the 101st Millrose Games. Lagat, who won
both the 1500m and 5000m at last summer's IAAF World Championships,
registered his fifth Wanamaker Mile victory last year, overcoming a
strong late race surge by Mottram. "I need to be ready," Lagat added.
Mottram,
who made his first Millrose appearance last year, made a strong bid for
victory with two laps to go on the tiny 145m track. At six feet three
inches, many said he was too tall for the tight turns, and his
aggressive move caught the much smaller Lagat a little off balance.
"He really surprised me," said Lagat. "He was attacking the corners really good. That surprised me, actually."
Lagat,
of Tucson, Ariz., didn't get past the Australian until there were fewer
than 100 meters to go in the race, and won by a modest 55/100ths of a
second in 3:54.26, a very strong time for that track.
"It was really hard," Lagat recalled. "I had that winning instinct in me. I had to win it."
Lagat
will have to bring his "A" game to Madison Square Garden as Mottram,
who just surpassed Haile Gebrselassie's USA all-comer record for 3000m
last Saturday in Boston, is in top form. Surviving a 35+ hour trip
from his high altitude training base in Falls Creek, Australia, Mottram
shredded the field in Boston with his 7:34.50 clocking, an Australian
record.
"I'm looking forward to making it a good battle on
Friday," said Mottram who reported that he is "100%" over the hamstring
injury which subverted his medal hopes at last summer's world
championships in the 5000m. "The aim for me this week, as it was last
year at the Wanamaker Mile, is to run hard. I've come here to run
hard."
Mottram
said that the long trip from Australia was worth it to break up his
training routine and test himself against both the clock and some of
the world's best athletes. He plans to return to Australia after
Millrose, run the Telstra Melbourne Track Classic (outdoors) on Feb.
21, then contest the IAAF World Indoor Championships over 3000m in
Valencia on March 7. Millrose provides him with the kind of challenge
he can really get excited about.
"The atmosphere from the school kids and the spectators is fantastic." he said.
Lagat
is chasing Eamonn Coghlan's legendary record of seven Wanamaker Mile
victories. With Mottram and 2006 Commonwealth Games 1500m champion
Nick Willis of New Zealand in the race, his sixth title is anything but
assured.
"It's been getting tougher," lamented Lagat. "Every year gets tougher and tougher."
