Posted: May 20, 2006

Athletics: Mottram Defends Title At Healthy Kidney 10-K

From David Monti

© 2006 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

NEW YORK (20-May) -- Craig Mottram successfully defended his title here today at the second annual Healthy Kidney 10-K, but he narrowly missed a special $10,000 record bonus.

Surging early in the fourth kilometer, the Commonwealth Games silver medalist at 5000m quickly found himself alone, passing through the 5 km mark in 14:05, just slightly off pace for the Central Park record of 28:10 set by Kenyan Paul Koech in 1997. He was trailed by Kenyan Linus Maiyo and New Yorker Anthony Famiglietti by three seconds.

But in the second half of the race, running into a slight headwind, Mottram extended his lead with every kilometer and the only matter left unsettled was whether he would get Koech's record and pocket the $10,000 bonus. Mustering a strong sprint of less than 66 seconds for the final --and uphill-- 400m, Mottram broke the tape in 28:13, just three seconds off of the mark. Nonetheless, he smashed his event record of 28:28 set last year. The one loop circuit in the Park is quite hilly and the course actually gains a small amount of elevation from start to finish.

Mottram prolonged his streak of 10-K road race victories to 12 stretching back to 2001. He also won this third consecutive road race in New York City; in addition to his Healthy Kidney victory last year, he also won the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile last September.

Mottram's training partner, Mohamed Farah of England, passed both Maiyo and Famiglietti in the second half to finish second in a personal best 28:37. Famiglietti passed Maiyo to finish third, 28:40 to 28:46. Moroccan Mohamed Amyn finished fifth in 29:01.

Part of the New York Road Runners' Professional Racing Series, the Healthy Kidney 10-K paid out $23,500 in prize money, including special awards for New York Road Runners' members. Mottram won $7,500 in prize money, with Farah winning $5,000 and Famiglietti --who was also given a New York Road Runners member award-- winning $4,000.

The race, sponsored by the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, raises money for the National Kidney Foundation. Approximately 6,000 runners signed up for the race, while 4,753 were officially recorded as finishing.

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