Craig Mottram winning at the 2006 IAAF WAT meeting in Melbourne (© Getty Images)
Australia’s Craig Mottram and Britain’s Jessica Ennis made successful outings at last night’s Bank of Scotland Celtic Cup 07 in Grangemouth, in preparation for the forthcoming 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Osaka, Japan (25 Aug – 2 Sep 2007).
Mottram, the double World Cup 3000m title holder, duly delivered the crowd and the venue, its first sub-four minute Mile as he had promised, when speeding to a time of 3:56.89.
The Australian, who in Osaka is looking to improve on his World Championship 5000m bronze medal which he took in Helsinki 2005, was happy to sit in the pack but when the pace dropped to 2:02.27sec at halfway, he waited just another 100m before bustling to the front.
Then it was a one man race as Mottram opened up a huge cap to finish a long way clear of fellow Aussie Mitch Kealey who recorded 4:02.22 and Andrew Lemoncello, 4:03.22, a personal best by some six seconds. Lemoncello won the UK 3000m steeplechase title last Friday to clinch his World Championship place.
Jessica Ennis, at present the third best Heptathlete in the world of the current season, was competing in her last meeting before the fast approaching World Championships and finished third in a tight 200 metres behind Lee McConnell and Ciara Sheehy, and then won the Long Jump.
The winner of the 100m Hurdles and High Jump at last weekend's UK Championships snatched victory with her last attempt, clearing a windy 6.30m. That narrowly beat off the challenge of Scotland's Gillian Cook by three centimetres with third placed Kelly Proper of Ireland jumping 6.07m.
The Commonwealth Heptathlon champion earlier found the sprint race a tougher test where McConnell captaining the Scottish team, won with a late surge in 23.37 seconds.
Ennis herself shared the same time of 23.54 as Sheehy, but the Irish champion was adjudged winner by the photofinish.
"I felt really good at the start and I'm hoping I just sneaked a PB," said this year's European Combined Events Cup winner. Indeed Ennis did by two-hundredths-of-second, but the wind at 3.2 metres-per-second, was well over the permitted 2m/s level.
"I'm pleased with how I ran and it was worth making the trip although I'm pretty tired. It was a good opportunity being able to compete here one last time before the World Championships. Now I plan getting a little rest before going to the team holding camp in Macau on August 9."
Four-time European Indoor 60m champion Jason Gardener put aside his disappointment of not being named earlier in the day in the British side for Osaka.
The "Bath Bullet" was stretched to the wire in the 100m by Scot Nick Smith before winning by 0.15sec in a windy 10.42 with Ryan Oswald of Scotland's Development team, third in 10.75.
Dave Martin – Press Association – for the IAAF
Results
Scotland 37, Ireland 30, Wales17. Bank of Scotland Development Team (non scorers)
Men
100metres: J Gardener (Gst) 10.42, 2, N Smith (Sco) 10.57, 3, R Oswald (BOSD) 10.75, 4, J Coull (Gst) 10.81, 5, J O'Donoghue (Irl) 10.89, 6, B Williams (Wal) 10.97, 7, A Ademuyewo (Gst) 11.08, 8, P Swan (Gst) 11.17.
1000m: J McIlroy (Irl) 2:21.96, 2, C Gowell (Wal) 2:22.14, 3, I Munro (Gst) 2:22.20, 4, A Brown (Gst) 2:26.09, 5, K Kane (Gst) 2:26.74, 6, G Smith (BOSD) 2:27.99, 7, G Oudney (Sco) 2:28.55, 8, K McCloy (Irl) 2:35.21.
Mile: C Mottram (Australia) 3:56.89, 2, M Kealey (Aus) 4:02.22, 3, A Lemoncello (Sco) 4:03.22, 4, C Rooney (Irl) 4:03.88, 5, B Raeside (Sco) 4:05.81, 6, C MacKay (Gst) 4:06.20, 7, D Gauson (Gst) 4:06.69, 8, G Massingham (Gst) 4:07.00, 9, J Thomas (Wal) 4:07.34, 10, A Hay (BOSD) 4:13.39.
400m Hurdles: F Smith (Sco) 51.94, 2, D Martin (BOSD) 52.38, 3, L McDermid (Irl) 54.74, 4, D Lewis (Wal) 54.96, 5, M Lipton (Gst) 55.31, 6, G Innes (Gst) 55.85.
Javelin Throw: J Campbell (Sco) 73.00, 2, R Williams (Wal) 65.64, 3, C Smith (BOSD) 62.16, 4, B Mullen (Irl) 56.18.
Women:
100m: E Maher (Irl) 11.82w, 2, S Deacon (Sco) 11.87, 3, L Evans (Wal) 12.06, 4, L Dickson (BOSD) 12.08, 5, H Robertson (Gst) 12.52, 6, C Beattie (Gst) 12.70, 7, R Riches (Gst) 12.89.
200m: L McConnell (Sco) 23.37w, 2, C Sheehy (Irl) 23,54, 3, J Ennis (Gst) 23.54, 4, S Downie (BOSD) 24.16, 5, A Foster (Gst) 24.30, 6, M Crowe (Irl) 24.54, 7, S Begg (Gst) 24.85, 8, M Stephenson (Wal) 25.02.
1000m: J Ross (Sco) 2:41.86, K Wootton (Gst) 2:42.18, 3, K Reid (Irl) 2:44.41, 4, E MacKenzie (BOSD) 2:55.19, 5, S Hood (Gst) 2:55.79, 6, S Davies (Wal) 2:55.92, 7, A McGhee (Gst) 2:57.61.
3000m: N Gauld (Sco) 9:11.62, 2, M McCambridge (Irl) 9:14.43, 3, F Murray (Gst) 9:27.67, 4, S O'Sullivan (Gst) 9:30.87, 5, B Potter (BOSD) 9:35.94, 6, N Stanford (Wal) 9:47.02, 7, E Waterhouse (Gst) 9:52.75, 8, P Nicholson (Gst) 9:54.72.
High Jump: P Hughes (Irl) 1.76, 2, R McKenzie (Sco) 1.73, 3, C Stokoe (Wal) 1.70, 4, E Leggate (BOSD) 1.65.
Long Jump: J Ennis (Gst) 6.30w, 2, G Cooke (Sco) 6.27, 3, K Proper (Irl) 6.07, 4, J Nimmo (BOSD) 5.79, 5, C Granville (Wal) 5.61.
Mixed Events
Triple Jump (M&W): BOSD 28.19, 2, Sco 27.62, 3, Irl 25.55, 4, Wal 23.89.
Medley Relay (W400m,M200,M200,W800); Scotland 3:45.45, 2, Ireland 3:53.47, 3, BOSD 3:53.88, 4, Wales 3:59.09.
