Mottram, St Lawrence confirm for ZATOPEK:10

World championship 5,000m bronze medallist Craig Mottram and national 10,000m record holder Ben St Lawrence are set to go head to head in this year’s Zatopek:10.

Mottram, who cruised to a comfortable win in the Victorian 5,000m Championships last Thursday, has confirmed with Athletics Victoria he will contest the 51st running of the prestigious event, the first to be held at the new Lakeside Stadium in Albert Park.

While Mottram’s preferred event for London 2012 remains the 5,000m, he is a two-time winner of the Zatopek:10 (his last appearance a win in 2003) and said after winning the Victorian 5000m title last week that he wants to earn a place in the Olympic team as soon as possible.

That means running the Zatopek: 10, the Olympic selection trial for 10,000m.

“It’s always good to get in the team as quickly as possible,” Mottram said. “So I’m going to have a real crack at the Zatopek, get in the first three, get the A-standard and get in the team early.”

Although Mottram is one of Australia’s greatest distance runners, he concedes St Lawrence, the defending Australian champion, will start favourite.

“Ben is certainly the favourite for the race. He’s the defending Australian title holder, he’s the national record holder and he’s beaten me at several of our last appearances. For me just to get within striking distance of him would be great, but I expect he’ll be very hard to beat.”

Speaking from his current base in Canberra, St Lawrence said his battle with Mottram on Zatopek:10 night would be good for the sport.

“Obviously Craig is a great runner when he’s on form,” he said. “He’s the Australian record holder over 5km, so he’ll be really tough competition – it can only be good for Aussie distance running to have two of the top guys going head to head.”

The pair last met in the 5,000m in the Melbourne Track Classic in March, where St Lawrence beat home Mottram to take the Australian title in a personal best of 13:10.08.

It capped off a brilliant domestic season for St Lawrence, who took the Australian 10,000m title for the first time in last year’s Zatopek:10, finishing second overall behind Kenyan Josphat Menjo.

He then clocked 27:24.95 in Palo Alto, California, in May, beating Collis Birmingham’s two-year-old national 10,000m record by almost five seconds.

The 2011 Zatopek:10 is on Saturday 10 December at Lakeside Stadium, Albert Park.

Tickets are available now from Ticketmaster for $12 for adults and $5 for children. Book now at www.ticketmaster.com.au or visit your nearest Ticketmaster outlet.

For the full program of events, see here: http://www.athsvic.org.au/news/newsfile.php?newsFileID=5408

For all media enquiries, phone Mitchel Brown at Athletics Victoria on (03) 9428 8195, or email mitch@athsvic.org.au