Craig and Benita to lead Australia in IAAF World Cross Country
Craig Mottram and Benita Willis, two of the distance icons from Australia, will be leading a 16-member squad in the 2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships to be held in Punta Umbria, Spain on 20 March.
For Mottram, the 5000m record-holder, this is the first time to represent the national squad at world championships since the World Cross Country held in Edinburgh three years ago.
While participating in the event, the seven-time World Cross Country representative would also be having senior athletes like the 5000m and 10,000m title-holders at the Commonwealth Games, Collis Birmingham and Ben St Lawrence to compete with. Besides them,
he would also be challenged by the fellow athletes David McNeill, Liam Adams and Clinton Perrett.
The announcement of the 16 athletes to represent the country in the event was made after the trials held at Stromlo Forest Park in Canberra where, amid holding the title of national 10,000m, Collis Birmingham got an automatic selection. While displaying
his performance, he covered a distance of 12km in 35 minutes and 9.2 seconds. With a difference of 2.9 seconds, Michael Shelly, the silver medalist at the Commonwealth Games Marathon, emerged as the second qualifier.
For clocking 35 minutes and 59.2 seconds, 36 minutes and 23.6 seconds and 36 minutes and 30 seconds, Adams, St Lawrence and Perrett followed the leading duo.
Shelly, who had also got a chance to take part into the Beppu-Oita Marathon, going to be held in Japan, later on decided to pull out his nomination for the event. After bypassing the trial held on Sunday, Mottram and McNeill succeeded in making place into
the six-man squad.
Toby Rayner, the runner who had bagged the sixth position at Stromlo Forest Park for clocking 36 minutes and 46.3 minutes, has been named as the reserve athlete for the men’s senior team.
For women’s event, Benita Willis, the World Cross Country Champion of 2004 ensured her inclusion in the squad for the event. She will be lining up with Lara Tamsett, the splendid athlete who has had participated in four World Cross Country races so far,
Eloise Wellings, the national champion for 10,000m, Anna Thompson, the bronze medalist at the World Cross Country and Kaila McKnight, the World Cross Country debutant.
Willis, who has made about eight appearances in the World Cross Country, has never been able to finish among the top 20 runners. However, the 30-year old from Victoria has had the privilege to bag the gold medal in Brussels in 2004 and a bronze medal in
the team category in 2006 and 2008.
Lara Tamsett, the young athlete, also earned an automatic selection amid making it to the finishing line before rest of the runners at Stromlo Forest Park. For covering the distance of 8km, she took 27 minutes and 5.6 seconds. With a gap of about 40 seconds,
Thompson ended second while McKnight, the 1500m specialist, who made it to the finishing line in 27 minutes and 49.1 seconds, stood third in the trials and made it to the squad.
Tim O’Shaughnessy, the National Distance Coordinator of the Athletics Australia, while commenting upon the selection of the athletes (men), said that they had assembled one of the world’s strongest team. Sharing his thoughts, he said, “The men’s team is
one of the strongest we’ve had for a number of years with Craig Mottram back in the team for the first time since 2008 and then with Collis Birmingham’s continued improvement, he’ll certainly be looking to his best-ever performance at a world cross country
championships.”
Talking about women’s squad, he regarded Wellings and Thompson as consistent performers and said, “For the women, Benita Willis is performing well in Europe at the moment and she’ll be well-supported by Eloise Wellings and Anna Thompson, both consistent
performers at these championships.”
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