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Lead Stories: Thursday, January 8, 2009

Prefontaine Classic: Recap of middle & long distance events

Posted June 11th, 2007 at 1:57 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

If the late Steve Prefontaine was watching this meeting from above his beloved Hayward Field, he surely had a smile on his face as gutsy performances in the middle and long distance events dominated this meeting.

For the second year in a row, the meet was held in cool and sometimes rainy conditions, and that was just perfect for the rollicking two-miler which was won by Australian Craig Mottram in the fastest time every on U.S. soil. John Jefferson and Bernard Kiptum set the early pace, and Tariku Bekele and Mottram were running 1-2 when Kiptum left the track after about 2000 meters.

Bekele led out of turn-2 on the final lap, but Mottram started his long sprint with more 250 meter to go. Bekele just couldn’t answer, and the big Aussie motored to the line in a sparkling 8:03.50, blowing through Eliud Kipchoge’s U.S. all-comer’s best of 8:07.68 set at the same meet in 2005.

“It comes down to the size of your balls, really,” said Mottram on live television after the race.

Bekele ran a personal best 8:04.83, while a hard-charging Matt Tegenkamp broke Alan Webb’s U.S. best of 8:11.48 with a terrific 8:07.07 clocking. Dathan Ritzenhein nearly got under Webb’s mark, finishing in 8:11.74 in fourth place. As for Webb, he finished a disappointing 9th, surely a letdown after his commanding victory over Bernard Lagat in the Reebok Grand Prix last Saturday.
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