Saturday 25th March - Athletics Day 7

Saturday night, Day 7 of the Athletics program, saw the blue ribbon event of the Middle to Distant events take place. The 1500m eagerly awaited Craig Mottram to deliver for Australia, instead after a race of high drama Nicholas Willis of New Zealand stepped forward to accept the crown.

Also on display was the 10000m, long the right of the Kenyans, it was to be the turn of Uganda to take the title. Boniface Kidrop won the event much to the dismay of Kenya, after taking all the titles up for grabs [Middle to Distance events] the night before, Friday 24th. The dominant Kenya came away from the last day of track events without a medal, however their athletics tally for the games was 6 Golds - 5 Silver and 4 Bronze.

1500m Men Winner Nicholas Willis New Zealand Time 3:38.49
A race if high drama with the crowd's favourite Craig Mottram crashing to the ground and out of contention, leaving New Zealand's Nick Willis to romp to victory in a time 3:38.49

Willis was in total control and whether Mottram had the fire power to deal with an out an out Miler will not be answered.

The drama all started with Canada's Kevin Sullivan and England's Andrew Baddeley getting tangled, this resulted in Baddeley clipping Mottram with both of them crashing to the ground. Sullivan escaped, however the incident no doubt may have had an affect on his race, with him eventually finishing 7th in 3:41.19

With Willis at the head of affairs upfront and well clear of the danger, the Kiwi could control matters to his benefit, only needing to accelerate enough to take the 'heralded' Gold. Canada's other young pretender to Sullivan's crown, Nate Brannen came through to grab Silver much to his delight.

For the Aussie's their disappointment was somewhat rewarded when Mark Fountain took Bronze in 3:39.33, with Mottram trudging home in 9th place in 3:44.37

Results : Men's 1500m Final

01. Nicholas Willis (New Zealand) 3min 38.49secs
02. Nathan Brannen (Canada) 3:39.20
03. Mark Fountain (Australia) 3:39.33
04. Paul Hamblyn (New Zealand) 3:39.38
05. Nick McCormick (England) 3:39.55
06. Ismael Kombich (Kenya) 3:40.92
07. Kevin Sullivan (Canada) 3:41.19
08. Jeremy Roff (Australia) 3:41.50
09. Craig Mottram (Australia) 3:44.37
10. Adrian Blincoe (New Zealand) 3:44.88
11. Jonathan Komen (Kenya) 3:53.73
12. Andrew Baddeley (England) 4:24.14

Splits below

10 000m Women 21/03 Winner Boniface Kiprop Uganda Time 27:50.99
Uganda's Boniface Kiprop has long remembered the words uttered by the great Haile GebreSelassie after the Athens 2004 10000m. On that occasion Kiprop finished 4th, a placing he would repeat a year later in the Helsinki 10000m. Gebreselassie had told him to stick to hit and that his time would come.

In Melbourne, that occasion arrived with the tiny Ugandan winning with some to spare, after a race where he displayed how much he has progressed over the last 2 years. His winning time was 27:50.99, understates the manner in which he despatched his rivals to take the 10000m crown away from the Kenyans.

In 2003, Kiprop finished 2nd in the Junior race at the Lausanne World X-Country Champs and since that occasion much has been expected. It may have taken longer however we are sure he will build on this success.

Kenya's Geoffrey Kipngeno took Silver and Tanzania's Fabian Joseph Bronze after an intriguing battle which signalled the end of Middle and Distance events till Delhi 2010.