Posted: August 16, 2007

Athletics (RRW): Lagat & Mottram To Clash At Great North 3-K

From David Monti © 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com Less than one month after the conclusion of the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Bernard Lagat and Craig Mottram will face each other again at the BUPA Great North Run 3-K on Saturday, Sept. 29, in New Castle, England. At this unique invitational road race, which takes place the day before the massive BUPA Great North Run, the world's largest half-marathon, defending champion Mottram will see what kind of chops Lagat has on the roads, a surface he has never tried in competition. Thousands of spectators typically line the beautiful course at the Quayside venue. Those fans helped Mottram run a world best 7:41.7 at last year's race, beating Eliud Kipchoge. "It was really hard running on my own and it hurt, but I always thought I could do it," recalled Mottram in a press release. "It is a difficult course but I proved nothing is impossible and I'm sure this year's race will be just as tough." Lagat, who will double at the World Championships in both the 1500m and 5000m, has never competed in a road race. Under coach James Li, he does, however, do a significant amount of endurance training, mostly on trails in Tucson and Flagstaff, Ariz. He often trains with USA 10,000m champion, Abdi Abdirahman. Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest