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Craig Mottram won his fourth consecutive Great Ireland run in Dublin earlier this morning and is now know as Craig O’Mottram by the local Irish Community.
Mottram, who won silver at the Commonwealth Games last month and placed eleventh in the short course at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Japan last weekend, took control of the undulating 10 kilometres course in Phoenix Park. Putting in a solid run he led the field home in 28:50 to come out the clear victor ahead of Ireland’s Mark Kennealy 29:17, and Mark Carroll 29:19.
There were half-a-dozen runners in contention for the Irish title until Mottram pulled away from the field. Kennealy and Carroll did all they could to stay with the big man, but were no match for the Aussie powerhouse.
"Mentally I knew I was up for a big challenge," said Mottram, "But physically because of the training I had put in before the Games, I knew I had plenty of strength and was always confident of victory. The last 4km is the toughest stretch of the course and I let it roll, letting the hills do the work," he added.
Mottram will now take a well-deserved break before heading off at the end of this month to the USA to begin altitude training.
Results
Craig Mottram (Australia) 28:51
Mark Kennealy (Ireland) 29:17
Mark Carroll (Ireland) 29:19
Serigy Lebid (Ukraine) 29:19
Stavko Petrovic (Slovakia) 29:23.
source Athletics Australia - www.athletics.org.au
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