OSTRAVA, CZECH REPUBLIC---By all indications, Craig Mottram passed the first major 5000m test of the summer with flying colors. The 27-year-old Australian out-maneuvered and ultimately out-kicked the finest field assembled yet this season to take a significant 13:04.97 victory at the 46th running of the Golden Spike Meeting on Wednesday night, a major stepping stone on this year's road to the World Championships in Osaka.

"It's great to be able to compete against that field, which is pretty much what I'm going to face at the World Championships, barring a few people who didn,t run tonight,"said, Mottram, the reigning world bronze medallist. "And I was able to control it from the front for the last four or five laps. I wasn,t expecting to do that, but to be able to stay relaxed over the last two laps like I did tonight is something that I,ve probably gained through a bit more experience more than anything else. I probably wouldn,t have been able to do that two years ago. That,s just one added bonus for me now."

Mottram and others were hoping for a 7:40 pace through 3000m, but when they came through in just under 7:55, the Aussie decided to step up the tempo.

"Once (pace setter Bernard Kiplagat) got out of the way, lane one opened up and (Tariku) Bekele sort of said, 'you go, and I didn't want it to become a walk,"Mottram explained. "I'm happy to roll 65s from the front. It,s no harder for me to do it from the front than it is following.o/oo

After Moses Masai briefly took the lead, Mottram made a decisive move, similar to the one which brought him victory over Kenenisa Bekele in last September,s IAAF World Cup, with a little more than a lap-and-a-half remaining

"And I felt (Tariku) Bekele come up with 650 to go I thought, Ok, let's get it on.," Smiling, he added, "I dropped his brother doing the same thing last year and figured he,s not quite that good yet, I,ll smash him too. I held him out. I didn't run great, and Bekele probably didn,t run his best race either. But the world championship race might be like that. And you just have to make the most of the situation."

Mottram was particularly pleased with his strong finish, covering the last lap in about 53 seconds.

"That,s good. I just wound up faster, faster, faster," he said. "Two years ago I probably would have tightened up in all honesty, and they would have rolled over top of me, but this year I just was able to go harder and I held them out."

Although he hoped for a faster performance, he was ultimately satisfied.

"It's not the fastest time, and we were hoping to go out a little quicker tonight but the race just didn't pan out that way. In hindsight, 13:04 is what I did in Seville in 2005 when I won there at the beginning of the season in my first 5k. So if that's anything to go by, things are as good as in 2005."

"I don't think I ran out of my skin tonight," he continued. "I just ran to what the race put in front of me and I dealt with it better than the others."

With recent success and added experience, Mottram welcomes the characterization that he's made the switch from being a chaser to being the chased.

"It might add a little more pressure, but I think I'm ready for that now, I'm due for it. The last few years I've been chasing and it's about time that I got to the front and have people chase me. I've got a few years hopefully of leading the pack and I'll do my best."

In the spring, Mottram said that if his Ostrava race went well, he probably wouldn't contest another 5000 prior to the World Championships. And he's probably going to stick to that initial plan.

"I really wanted to run fast and get that out of my way and not really worry about it. But I,m not worried about the time now. I showed I can win fast and I showed I can win in a bit more of a tactical race. So we,ll play it by ear, go back to London and do a bit more training. I doubt there will be another 5k but there will be a few more races."

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