Mottram: Another Message to the Americans

Props to Mottram -- but the season is still young and we'll see what some of our guys can do in Europe in the next several weeks. The US championships always throws a wrench in getting an early start in Europe, as most of our guys choose to wait until after that to travel abroad.

Mottram has made a steady progression in the past few years and seems willing to race a variety of distances all over the globe. He also seems to be able to stay injury/burnout free despite racing almost year round. With Ken Bekele largely MIA this outdoor season, he has seized the opportunity to become the "guy to beat" at least early in the year. But keep in mind that he's a few years older and not dramatically further ahead than several of our younger guys who are just on the cusp of being in the world elite.

b/c bekele learned from that and will not lead the whole race again. now if the kenyans ban together and lead, bekele will outkick them. so either way, the race will be slow. nobody wants to lead. championship races are tactical and unevenly paced, not exactly "pr" type conditions. if you want to place money on the over/under on whether the race is won in 12:45 (or even 12:50), i would be happy to take your cash.

rex1609 wrote:

Of course America has more runners under 3.35 and more under 13.20 than Australia you numb nut

America has 300 million people

Australia has 20 million people.

Can you supply us the number for Kenya compared to the US? Does the correlation still hold up?

texas wrote:

next american hope

Manzano

Surely you mean Mike Maranzano? He runs for Kingston and Polytechnic AC in Surrey and he's English.

Haji wrote:

rex1609 wrote:

Of course America has more runners under 3.35 and more under 13.20 than Australia you numb nut

America has 300 million people

Australia has 20 million people.

Can you supply us the number for Kenya compared to the US? Does the correlation still hold up?

Kenya has 33 million people. Completely different world to America or Oz though, as you no doubt know.

The population of Africa is nearing 1 billion people.

America and oz are similar countries though, (both western and similar lifestyles) so comparisons really should be made on a per capita basis, if they are to made at all.

Bagging Australia because it doesn't have the depth of America is like blaming a dwarf for being born short.

Regards

At one Australia did produce the world's best distance runners.

The fact is after Mottram the Aussie can't even get another runner to break 13:20 for the 5k. Perhaps Mottram should become an American citizen and join the winning side.

Fountain hasn't broken 3:54 for the mile and would probably lose to Lukezic.

Jolloes you are a complete nob. My IQ just dropped by about 30% since I read your idiotic post.

Yes America has more depth. They also have:

- 20 times the population of Oz.

- A college system that spoils and pampers. Australia does not have a university system of any merit. Once a kid leaves high school he is on his own. If he has rich parents then he has a chance, otherwise he has to work his arse off and train on top of it

- About a million times as much money in the sport as Australia.

- A lot more fat and lazy people.

- Heaps more mass execution style school shootings.

Despite this Australia has produced pure champions of our sport such as:

-Herb Elliott (Seb coe rates herb the best 1500m to ever live),

- Rob De-castella 2.07 marathon runner, world record holder.

- Ron clarke (held the world record for 5km and 10km, you know no Amercian has ever held these records?)

- Mottram :Better than anyone America has ever produced.

I could go on. Being a small country Oz is about quality not quantity. We will produce more legends, way before America does. so suck shit

PS; Fountain has run a 3.33. He has only ever run a couple miles you idiot, no one cares about miles except Americans.

truth.

male mymph- did you watch helsinki- it was slow then so fair chance it will be slow in osaka as well. it coould well be quick, i hope it is but jus because the race will be full of africans it doesnt gurantee a fast pace.

also i dont think ethipia and kenya will have 6 athletes capable of running 12.50 in osaka. bekele is 10k only, choge seems to be concentrating on 1500m and songok may be as well and didnt look like he will be running anywhere near 12.50 judging by his run on wednesday. i think the only candidates of 12.50 left are kipchoge,shihine, tariku bekele and feleke, 2 of which mottram beat on wednesday and i fancy his chances against the other two irrelative if the pace is fast or slow. just because his pb is 12.55 doesnt mean he couldnt break 12.50, mottram has never ran a really fast-pced 5k, his best performances being at crystal palace where last laps were 55/56- if he ran a golden league paced at 12.45-12.50 pace you would see that he is capable of running just as fast if not faster as the likes of tariku bekele etc.

plus lagats a kenyan anyway

dude why does the forum coninue to bash our recent american disance running surge every runner is a human being they are all going to have bad days. didnt webb destroy craig in the mile at the rebok grand pre?

Da f***? Struggled? he lost by 1 second dumass. Marathon is still apart of distance running jackass. Also Webb DESTROYED Mottram not too long ago and Ritz smoked him. shut the hell up you pathetic euro shit head. yes im resorting to name calling.

Another reason why there is more depth in US running than in countries like oz is the amount of financial support available to runners (or lack there of).

Unless you're of Mottram standard - almost best in the world - there is basically no financial support, both from government and corporate, therfore runners are forced to work a full-time jobs and try to fit training around their work.

I can think of at least four sub 28min 10km oz runners (Troop, Cartwright, Cavuto and Bezebah) that work full-time and fit training aound work.

Luck for Ritz, Rupp, Webb etc they were born in the US and get the support needed to be a fulltime athlete...

Not sure if they realise how goo they have it...

With the exception of Mottram the state of California has more depth than Australian distance running! Yes, one state could beat Australia in distance running. I think Australia has more people than California.

Australia has had some great distance runners, but not many who are not named Mottram today.

Mottram is the only Australian distance that would place in the US championship.

ghb wrote:

rex1609 wrote:

Australia does not have a university system of any merit. Once a kid leaves high school he is on his own. If he has rich parents then he has a chance, otherwise he has to work his arse off and train on top of it

truth.

Not true. Intercollegiate sports is nonexistent, yes, but a school like University of Melbourne is on par with some of the best schools in the US. And the US govt does not issue HECS placements like the Australian govt does. I was able to study, as an American, at the Post Grad level at Uni Melb through the PELS program and received heaps of funding. Unlike in America, HECS fees are interest free. It's where Australia's socialism betters the US caapitalist venture, whereby US student loans are contracted out. Also the Australian health care system far eclipses the HMO American drivvle.

Thing that pisses me off is that people her are ignoring Mottram's rise. He was humble for a long ass time and he has worked his ass off to be one of the best in the world. It took him a few years to get respect in Australia and even had to suggest that he would compete for Great Britian to get Aussie's supporting him. This is a kid who really started running competitively at 18. By 20 he was in the Olympics. Look at him now bittches.

Nobbiles wrote:

With the exception of Mottram the state of California has more depth than Australian distance running! Yes, one state could beat Australia in distance running. I think Australia has more people than California.

Australia has had some great distance runners, but not many who are not named Mottram today.

Mottram is the only Australian distance that would place in the US championship.

No: Your argument make no sense. California has 37 million people. Australia has 21 million. You are a double idiot because there are only 3 place getters in the 5km (or any event), if one of them is Australian (1st) then on a comparative basis aussies kick your arse.

No-one that knows anything about athletics is ignorning Mottrams rise

You got money through the PELS program as you are American, I am referring to Australian athletes, not yankies over stealing Australian university positions. Aussie athletes ranked top 5 in the country for an event get next to no funding in 99% of all Australian universities. Melbourne uni hardly pays a cent to it's native athletes. HECS is not interest free, you pay the 90 day bank rate.

Yes. "look at him now bittches". We are you nob, we were looking at him years ago when he was 18. It's only the stupid selectors which gave him a hard time.

Lagat and Tegenkamp.