INDIANAPOLIS - Organizers of the 2007 Reebok Grand Prix
played host to a media conference Thursday featuring
Bernard Lagat and Craig Mottram, who will compete in the
men's mile at that event in New York City on June 10.A Global Athletics & Marketing, Inc., event, the Reebok Grand
Prix is the third event of USA Track & Field's 2007 Outdoor
Visa Championships Series. It will be televised on June 2
on ESPN2 from 11 p.m. - 12:30 a.m., and on June 3 from 1 -
2 p.m. on CBS. All times are Eastern.
Lagat and Mottram will participate in a rematch of their
exciting Wanamaker Mile duel at the 100th Millrose Games
in February, where Lagat passed Mottram on the final turn
for the win.
Both athletes are well-known in New York. Two-time
Olympic medalist Lagat, the reigning U.S. Champion at
1,500m and 5,000m and the American record-holder at
1,500m outdoors, is a five-time winner of the Wanamaker
Mile. Mottram, the 2005 World Championships bronze
medalist at 5,000 meters and Australian record-holder in
the mile, is a two-time winner of the Healthy Kidney 10K and
champion of the 2005 Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile.
The event will begin at 5 p.m. at Icahn Stadium at Randall's
Island. Tickets, at $20, $30 and $40 each, are available by
calling 1-877-TIX-TRAC. USA Track & Field welcomes you to
pay with your Visa. For more information and event updates,
visit the event website at www.ReebokGrandPrix.com
Excerpts from the teleconference Bernard Lagat and Craig
Mottram follow:
Q: Bernard, what have you been doing since the indoor
season?
A: I decided not to run Mt. SAC because I had a long indoor
season, so I wanted to take a longer rest before training
hard for the summer. I'm back training now.
Q: Why are you running in this meet (the Reebok Grand
Prix)?
A: I wanted to run this one because I've haven't run any
outdoor meet in New York. I've only been running in the
Millrose Games. I just wanted to run New York and it is the
one for me because I have a time frame, where I wanted to
train for six weeks before running in a race and the end of
this week will be six weeks for me.
Q: Craig, could you take us back to the Millrose Games and
talk about your race with Bernard?
A: It was a fantastic race. I love New York. Every opportunity I
get to run there I will. The Millrose Games was an
experience for me and I really enjoyed it. Hopefully, I'll be
able to come back again next year and race Bernard and
Alan Webb as well. Bernard was a little too strong in the last
lap, but it was a great race and I really enjoyed it. Hopefully
we'll have many more races like that in the future.
Q: Both of you guys train in Flagstaff (Arizona). Craig, how
has your training been going?
A: My training has been going great. I'm probably at the
same level where I have been at this time for the last four or
five years. The main goal for me is not until the end of
August, and I'll be flying then. There's always going to be a
few bumps in the road along the way and you just have to
iron them out. Coming into the race on June 2 against
Bernard in New York over a mile I'm pretty confident in my
fitness and looking forward to a great challenge. Bernard is
one of the best milers in the world and if you want to go up
against a good competitor and get a good indication of
where you're at then he's the one to go up against.
Q: Craig, what will you run at the World Championships?
A: The 5,000.
Q: Bernard, could you talk about your Millrose victory earlier
this year?
A: The Millrose Games brings a lot of excitement and it's a
fantastic race to run, and I've been doing that now for a long
time. I know the track after running there for a while, and
winning there for the fifth time was good for me, and I like it
because I'm trying to get the record from the great Eamonn
Coughlan, who was a great athlete running in the Garden.
Q: Bernard, how has your training been going?
A: Sometimes you train and train and you don't really know
your shape, but with the workouts I've been able to do I'm
doing faster than last year, like what I did on Monday, I did
with a really fast tempo, a four-mile tempo in 20 minutes
and I didn't feel like I was working extra hard. I feel like my
shape is where it's supposed to be, but then when it comes
to the race I need to prepare for that and get faster workouts
going.
Q: Bernard, are we going to see you in the 5,000 at the
World Championships?
A: My only goal is to run 1,500 and try to get a gold medal in
the 1,500. I know it's getting tougher as I get older, but I want
to make sure I'm training even harder than before and
focusing more on one thing instead focusing on two. I'm
going to focus on the 1,500 and go for the World
Championships team in the 1,500.
Q: Will you try to get the American record in the 5,000?
A: Not this year for sure. My focus is on the 1,500.
Q: Bernard, the U.S. mile record by Steve Scott has been on
the books for a long time now. Do you have plans to break
it?
A: That record has been there for a long time. To run that
one you have to really have a perfect day and everything has
to be perfect. It's not an easy race. I think it might be hard to
do it, but if I can have the opportunity, why not try.
Q: What kind of shape are you in right now?
A: With my workouts that I've been doing, anything under
3:53 is what I can do right now. I think I can run 3:53 or even
faster.
Q: Craig, how fast can you go this week?
A: That's the million dollar question. I ran Millrose in 3:54 on
a small track, so I think I can run under 3:54. I've got no idea.
I can run fast enough to be competitive.
For more information on the Reebok Grand Prix and the
2007 Visa Championship Series, visit www.usatf.org.