Tri to stop Aussie Craig Mottram: Australia’s middle distance star Craig Mottram is forgoing the New Balance Bolt (5-K) – which he has won for three straight years – at next month’s 2004 Noosa Triathlon Multi Sport Festival and instead will return to his schoolboy race days and compete in the triathlon. He was national schoolboy triathlon champion in 1998.
This guys is an outstanding runner. Does anyone know if he has any serious plans to pursue triathlon? I believe this guy broke 13 minutes for the 5000 meters on the track this summer.
Problem is that many very top runners are extraorinarily lean and don’t have the power to really push the big gears on the bike. And they are also challenged in the pool for the same reason and a lack of technique.
However, it sounds like Mottram has a back-ground in tri.
In Canada right, now ALL of our top Junior triathletes are also outstanding runners. In fact the top three ranked Junior triathletes, ranked in the top 5 in the 5000m in the country this year or last.
That said, coming from a fellow Canadian, our elite standards in running are a little lower than the world standards. With the exception of people like Kevin Sullivan - however, he did fail to make the Olympic final (as exceptional as he is).
Agreed. Unfortuantely, we are right now in Canada at a low point with respect to the quality and depth in middle and long distance running. There are signs that things are starting to turn around, but I think that the rest of the world has already blown right by us and it will be a long time until we get back into the race, if ever.
From what I have seen and read…Mottram is right there with some of the fastest 5000 meter runners in the world. I wonder if he would give that up to go after triathlon. I don’t think there is a triathlete in the world that can come anywhere close to this guy in the run (speed).
One more thing, Mottram is (by elite runners standards) hugh and muscular. May make it tough for him to get to Olympic medalist territory, so tri may be a viable option if he wants to be a medalist.
And before I get all sorts of replies, 12:57 or so for 5K, while very, very impressive, is not going to cut it for a medal hopeful. The medalists can (and have) run that fast for the last 5K in a 10K race.
In believe in the olympics, the 5000 meter guys have to run two races…one to get in…and the final. The winning times aren’t always world record fast. Strength and strategy does come into play. This guy also runs the 1500 here and there to work on his kick. I don’t think he’s ready to hang up the spikes for a speedo.
He is definately lean, just more muscular. Some top non africans are pretty skinny. In Mottrams case it could be a lark or he may have a burning desire to get a medal. Just my opinion but he may be more suited to tri than pure running.
Fleck, coming from an elite running background yourself, I would be interested in hearing what you think the causes of this are. It really goes beyond running and is all sports (except hockey!). Apparently the government is conducting a study and putting on a conference for all government officials at some nice resort to discuss the cause of our embarrassing showing at the Olympics. I expect the people that come up with the accepted theories will be the ones that spend part of their morning in the Tim Hortons’s drive-thru because they are too lazy to get their fat gut out from behind the steering wheel to get their fill of donuts. (forgive the sarcasm - I am in Vancouver now and I have not had my morning coffee).
My thoughts:
We need to look at the Canadian’s like Simon Whitfield, Peter Reid, Lori Bowden, Emilie Mondor (middle distance runner) who are able to hold their own on the world stage and ask what it is that sets them apart from other Canadian athletes. Some may say it is money, but Emilie Mondor is making a meager amount of money and she is doing very well. Some may say genetics and while genetics may play a role there are many examples of ungifted athletes or athletes with some impairment leading the field. I think the problem is more deeply rooted. Canadian’s in general are not aggressive. We don’t push our limits. We can be passive. It is the eat nails for breakfast attitude of the Australians and Kiwis that make them strong in my opinion. Perhaps an over generalization but it is a start. Performance has to start with the belief. And, that belief must be instilled from an early age by parents and our school system.
The athletes you listed as well as a number of other athletes who have been really successful for Canada in endurance sports over the years( Pierre Harvey and Beckie Scott in XC Skiing, Alison Sydor and Steve Bauer in Cycling, people like that) have in addition to very hard work, were exceptional talents to begin with. They would have done well in any situation. They are just that good.
Kids today are way less active and have far few exposures to endurance sports than years ago.
Once into a program there is huge attrition after highschool and then again after university. This has always been the case, but there are far fewer kids now in the talent funnel.
For some reason we don’t push kids hard enough. I remember some scary running workouts from my teenage years in the '70’s( stuff like 8 X 800 in 2:14 with a one lap fast jog recovery. I did not do that work out alone - I did it with 10 other guys all pushing the hell out of each other the whole way!)
Media coverage: Other than the two week orgy during each Olympic Games, there is none, of many of the key Olympic sports. Notice that even with the NHL out of commssion, there is no more coverage of other sports - just more talk about how there is no hockey!
Money: Support from both the public and private sector in this country is terrible. Money is not the whole answer, but part of the Olympic drought that Canada is in right now is in part due to the significant cut-backs in sports funding for the past 20 years. Private companies in this country are extraordinarily conservitive when it comes to marketing $$$ spent on anything that is less than a total for-sure home-run. Example: Perdita Felcian is spoiled with money and all kinds of reasorces( and rightly so), but the woman that actually pushes her in Canada and also made it to the Olympic final this year, gets next to nothing!
Lack of long term vision/hope: Let’s face it from the time that a kid get’s turned onto an endurance sport at the age of 14 or 15, it’s 10 years until they will be approaching international standards, they then have another 5 - 10 years to really flourish at the international level. What we tend to do is throw some money and reasources at a program and then expect their to be results in a year or two. It does not work that way.
Sports Administrators who have their head in the sand: Despite all kinds of talent and help on the sidelines, these folks seem to want to do it all on their own and their way, never even bothering to tap into the rich reasources that are out there. I know countless Olympians, and former national record holders in a vareity of sports who would love to get involved, but never get the call!
. . want me to keep going? I could go on for a while here.
Hope that the big wigs in Ottawa have some of the above on their agenda when they sit down at their conference with their Tim-Bits and Coffee.