Birmingham Setting His Own Standards

By Len Johnson

Ron Clarke was gracious enough to dub Craig Mottram Australia’s greatest distance runner a couple of years back.

This was when ‘Buster’ was in his pomp _ a bronze medallist in a world championships 5000 metres, breathing down the necks of Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele as he chased them home in successive London Grand Prix 5000 metres, breaking 13 minutes on the MCG in an absorbing duel with ‘Gus’ Choge at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Clarke’s passing of the mantle may, or may not, have been valid. But one thing Craig Mottram definitely has done, is give us a new benchmark for Australian men’s distance running. Leaving aside the marathon _ where Rob de Castella, Derek Clayton and Lisa Ondieki all have claims to greatest Australian all time status _ before Mottram emerging Australian distance runners had to compared with Clarke, and Clarke only. Now there is Mottram, too. And he’s not done yet and may still add to his list of achievements.

Looking at range, Clarke had a ‘blip’ at the mile (ironic, given it was the distance at which he set several world junior records), but set world records at 3000 metres, two miles, three miles, 5000 metres, six miles, 10,000 metres, 10 miles, 20,000 metres and the one-hour run. He also finished ninth in an Olympic marathon.

Clarke redefined track distance running, and although he did not face African competition in the same numbers as today, he did race against the first great Kenyan and Ethiopian champions. Given the presence of Gebrselassie and Bekele, Mottram has not been able to re-set global expectations in the manner of Clarke, but he showed that the dominant Africans could be challenged. Dathan Ritzenhein, Matt Tegenkamp, Ryan Hall and others are in his debt.

So, in Australian terms, is Collis Birmingham who, in his own way and at his own pace, is starting to show the sort of range and versatility as Clarke and Mottram.

Benita Willis generated the feel-good story of last weekend’s Australian world cross-country selection trials. Her win was her first in Australia since just before the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

In his own way, however, Birmingham was equally impressive. He sat with the pace for most of the race before surging away from Clint Perrett, Duer Yoa, Liam Adams and Jeff Hunt over the last 2km loop.

In 2009, Birmingham continued his quiet but steady progress into the ranks of world-class distance runners. He had his best placing at a world cross-country championships, set personal best at 1500, one mile, 5000 and 10,000 metres (the latter an Australian record) and reached the final of the 5000 at the world championships in Berlin..

Mottram has medals _ his world championships bronze and Commonealth silver, plus his two World Cup 3000 metres victories _ but Birmingham is edging closer to him in performance terms.

Distance by distance, Birmingham has a best 1500 of 3:35.76 (Mottram, 3:33.97), mile of 3:54.30 (v an Australian record 3:48.98), 7:46.01 at 3000 (v AR 7:32.19), 13:14.53 at 5000 (v AR 12:55.76) and 27:29.73 AR at 10,000 (v 27:34.48). At world cross-country, Birmingham’s best finish in the time-tested long race is 29^th in Amman last year; Mottram finished 13^th in 2004.

One obvious question is whether the two will meet in Australia this year. First, Mottram has to be fully fit. He has had an interclub 5000 metres last October and then his opening 5km leg of the Chiba Ekiden Relay. Since then, nothing, but it is still almost three months to the national championships in Perth in April.

For Birmingham, it is not a question of whether he will run, but which event. He is already in the Commonwealth Games team at 10,000 and is selected for world cross-country. After the trial, he said tongue-in-cheek that the only event he was ruling out of consideration at the nationals was the 400. He wants to press his claims at 1500 and will run in Hobart, Sydney and Melbourne.

Given that any nationals meeting between the two at 5000 would likely be tactical, it seems the best chance of a head-to-head could be Melbourne. It would be a fascinating race.