Mottram turns race into a rout

Alistair Cragg and Craig "Buster" Mottram were expected to deliver a repeat performance of last year's duel in the Boston Indoor Games last night. But Mottram rendered the race anticlimactic with three laps remaining at the Reggie Lewis Track Center, coasting to victory in the 3,000 meters in 7 minutes 39.24 seconds.

"It was a good result, one of my best runs ever, I think," Mottram said. "It's been a tough month and I wanted to come here and put on a show, like last year. I've always said that a lot of running is mental."

Irishman Cragg led for much of the race, but finished fourth in 7:52.68. Ethiopians Markos Geneti (7:42.72) and Ali Abdosh (7:45.96) were second and third, respectively.

"He made a surge," Cragg said of Mottram. "And after he went around me, my head gave in. None of us were sharp, but he was, obviously, the class of the field. He just played with us."

Last year, Mottram, a 26-year-old Australian, used the 2-mile here as a tuneup for the Commonwealth Games, winning his first indoor race. This time, Mottram approached this race as almost a training run.

"It's January," Mottram said. "It's going all right but there is a lot more work to be done. It's important to me to run well in these two indoor races [including next week's Millrose Games in New York]. I ran [Friday] and I thought I was going to die. I like Boston and I really enjoy running on this track. I think I can run under 7:30 indoors or outdoors."

Mottram went past Cragg, increased the distance between Geneti, and glanced back toward a fading Cragg late in the race. Then, on the final lap, Mottram flashed thumbs-up signs to the crowd.

"[Cragg] was slowing up every 200 [meters] and I could feel it," Mottram said. "I'm a big guy and I like to let it out, so if I saw a gap open up, I wanted to go for it. I wanted to see how far back Cragg was, to make sure where he was, because once you drop them, you want to bury them."

Last year, Mottram exchanged the lead in the 2-mile with Cragg, Sileshi Sihine, and Tariku Bekele, whose brother, Kenenisa, he upset to win the World Cup 3,000 meters later in the year. As in last night's race, Cragg took the lead with about three laps left, but had to hold off six followers on the final lap.

Mottram broke the African dominance in the World Championships' 5,000 meters, finishing third in 2005 in Helsinki, the first non-African medalist since 1987. He won his second World Cup 3,000 meters in the final European meet of last season.

"This was my first time on the track in six months," Mottram said. "I just came out to have some good fun. Like the Africans, they train 12 months a year."