Mottram first home again

ATHLETICS/Great Ireland Run: With a record entry of over 7,000 yesterday's Great Ireland Run was largely about going the distance, but that didn't hold back Craig Mottram from producing yet another world-class performance. The tall Australian cruised to victory in 28 minutes 50 seconds, just five seconds outside his own course record.

It was Mottram's fourth successive victory in the 10km event, which since finding a permanent home in Dublin's Phoenix Park is clearly going from strength to strength.

There was a rewarding run also from Dublin's Mark Kenneally, who took second in 29:10, yet another display of his steady improvement. Next best was 34-year-old Mark Carroll, who finished just a few strides behind Kenneally in what was mainly a timely blow-out for the London marathon in two weeks' time.

On the day, however, Mottram was in a class of his own: "I'm delighted to have won this race for the fourth time," he said. "This is a significant event for me, and in a way helped start my career four years ago. I love the course and I love coming to Dublin, except for the traffic."

The women's division was won by the young Ethiopian Meselek Melkamu, who clocked 31:42, well ahead of Fernando Ribeiro of Portugal (32:16).

Melkamu was coming off a double bronze in the World Cross Country in Japan last week, and was unstoppable on the day.

The Irish women didn't fare quite as well, with Maria McCambridge the best finisher in seventh place.

Elsewhere, two individual winners and two team second places were the Irish highlights of the annual schools cross-country international, staged on Saturday at Stowe School, Buckinghamshire, England.