Predict Mottram world cross finish

you cannot be serious either?

I predict around 15-20th. He's not that good at the longer distances and the Africans are really good. Ethiopia and Kenya will have 8 guys in the field, and you've also got to keep in mind the Qataris and the Ugandans. Kenya had six in the top 9 last year. World Cross is no joke. Mottram was fifth in a championship 3k recently, which is his best event along with the 5k.

i really don't care how he does. call him interesting or cocky, whatever he does really means very little.

will drop out!

He is the only one who possibly can stand up against the east african doping conspiracy!!

Didn't Ritz finish 26th once as a 19-year-old college freshman?

This is not to say that Mottram can't have an off-day or that he is the best ever, but I think any 30+ predicitions have to be tied to a truly bad day.

I can't see him winning. I just don't see it happening. But I think anywhere between 5th and 20th makes a lot of sense to me (totally dependent upon weather, conditions, start, and who is on/off that day).

There are only a handful of guys who can win this. But there are a ton who can finish between 10th and 30th depending on the day and any one of those may have a break-out race, too.

MOTTRAM IS GOING TO DROP OUT OF THE RACE BECAUSE HE WON'T BE ABLE TO HANDLE THE PREASURE.

Do you americans know nothing!

a touhgh muddy course blah blah blah i train on holyrood park 4 times a week and it is far from muddy this course will suit mottram.

top 10

Mottram is a joke.

I predict he will be beaten by at least 1 American or Allistair Cragg.

He has no chance of a top 15.

As said there are up to 9 runners from each country.

Whereas the argument about Africans not being able to run in cold & mu sure the guy is from Oz, hes as unused to those conditions as the Kips!

Mottram - around 10-15th position.

Ghost in Korea

How is your location at all relevant to the discussion?

ghost wrote:

Ghost in Korea

14th

somewhere between 5th and 20th

Mottram will finish a respectable

THIRD!

Johannes will not post again because he cannot spell pressure!

brajsuf wrote:

africans cant run in the cold mud , 2nd place

Africans do just fine when it's cold and muddy.

Last time the World XC was held in a cold climate (Dublin, Ireland). The Africans were clearly affected! Only 4 non-African born finishers in the top 30. The result will be the same this time around

Dublin 2002. Mens 12km race

Pos Bib Athlete Country Mark

1 206 Bekele Kenenisa ETH 34:52

2 468 Yuda John TAN 34:58

3 429 Talel Wilberforce KEN 35:20

4 427 Limo Richard KEN 35:26

5 424 Kamathi Charles KEN 35:29

6 423 Chepkurui Albert KEN 35:32

7 436 Goumri Abderrahim MAR 35:43

8 366 Kifle Yonas ERI 35:47

9 428 Mitei Enock KEN 35:49

10 435 Gharib Jaouad MAR 35:57

11 477 Abdirahman Abdihakem USA 36:03

12 382 Mezgebu Assefa ETH 36:06

13 390 Sghyr Ismal FRA 36:07

14 480 Keflezighi Mebrahtom USA 36:09

15 386 Essad Mustapha FRA 36:10

16 381 Jifar Habte ETH 36:11

17 379 Bayissa Fita ETH 36:14

18 466 Ramadhani Samson TAN 36:16

19 449 Henriques Eduardo POR 36:20

20 378 Alemayehu Lemma ETH 36:25

21 433 Berioui Sad MAR 36:27

22 343 Ndayisenga Jean-Berchmans BDI 36:29

23 388 Lahssini El Hassan FRA 36:30

24 481 Ritzenhein Dathan USA 36:31

25 473 Bozhko Yevgen UKR 36:33

26 373 Garca Jos Manuel ESP 36:34

27 437 Khattabi Elarbi MAR 36:34

28 495 Ngaseke Michael ZIM 36:35

29 425 Kogo Hosea KEN 36:36

30 369 Zerisenay Tadesse ERI 36:37

Craig Mottram Hoping For Scottish Support

Mar 21 2008 By David McCarthy

ZERSENAY TADESE has been omnipresent in Edinburgh all week.

Well, the African's athlete's presence has been all over the city's massive Omni entertainment complex at any rate, in the shape of a sensational 18ft tall poster promoting what he hopes will be the defence of his World Cross Country Championship title in the capital on Sunday, March 30.

Tadese, a national hero in his homeland of Eritrea, captured the title in Kenya last year and although conditions are likely to be totally different as representatives of 78 countries plough through the Holyrood Park course next week, the longdistance specialist will be the man to beat.

Craig Mottram, though, will have something to say about that. In fact, the Australian track star has something to say about everything and fancies his chances of landing his first world cross country title.

He is also banking on plenty of local support and not only from expat Aussies living in Edinburgh.

The 27-year-old's mum hails from Aberfeldy and Mottram is ready to use his "half-Scottishness" to get the crowd on his side as he battles Tadese and Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele, who has an outstanding record in this event and will be going for his sixth victory.

But Mottram, who became the first non-African in almost 20 years to win a 5000m track medal - it was bronze - at the world championships in Helsinki three years ago, is looking to shake up the favourites in the gruelling cross country version of the sport.

Not that he's a rookie in the event - he finished fifth in the World Cross Country Championships in Dublin back in 2002. And he is looking forward to returning to Scotland just a year after competing in the Celtic Games at Grangemouth as a guest in the mile, which he won at a canter, smashing a stadium record that had stood for a quarter of a century.

He said: "Scotland is a fantastic place to compete. Having raced up here in the Great Edinburgh winter cross country in Holyrood Park, I know how much the Scots get behind their athletes.

"And I might need it for the World Cross Country Championships.

"I'm almost one of you guys anyway. My mum's from Aberfeldy, although she left for Norwich when she was seven.

"She is a proud Scot, though."

This down-to-earth, confident character, whose father is English, added: "I met a bloke in a pub once who said the toughest characters you can meet on your travels are the English, the Scottish and the Aussies.

"I have a bit of all three so I must be the toughest b****** of the lot!"

He'll need to be on Sunday week because the competition could not be tougher. Not that he's fazed by the quality of the opposition. Mottram said: "Every time I line up I think I can win.

What a depressing thought it must be not to think that.

"If you're feeling negative there's always something you can turn around to make a positive."

Tadese might hold the title but African neighbours Ethiopia are likely to win the team event, with five-time World Cross Country champion Bekele and two-time female long course champion Tirunesh Dibaba in their line-up.

Bekele missed out on a sixth title last year when he dropped out of the race in Mombasa, Kenya, with stomach problems and is determined to create history in the Scottish capital. The 25-year-old is not a stranger to the Holyrood Park venue, having won the BUPA Great Edinburgh International Cross Country race over its testing pastures for the past three years.

Dibaba, who missed a third consecutive victory in Kenya 12 months ago, is also out to regain her title. She leads a strong Ethiopian side including Gelete Burka, another three-time winner of the BUPA Edinburgh event.

He was 5th in 2002. There are people from other countries that have never even touched Mottram in the top 10 every year. The only way he falls below 5th is if he physically falls... and hurts something.