Elite coaching special - Craig Mottram and Andy Baddeley on racing

Mottram didn’t start running seriously until he was 18, approaching 19. Before this he was in to all kinds of sports: “When I was younger I played soccer, I did triathlon and multi-sports.”
Mottram was at a boarding school in the Victoria High Country where the way of life involved a lot of outdoor activity. He said: “I didn’t think about running or the Olympics until I was 17 or 18 years old. I thought I’d do triathlon because at the Sydney Olympics it would be a debutant event. Then I concentrated on running. I turned out to be quite good at it. The only reason I got into that full time was because I didn’t show at training all the time. The coach made me team captain so I had to show up.”
It was his new position on the track team combined with the demands of triathlon that led to Mottram focussing on athletics: “I didn’t have the time for three disciplines for the triathlon. I was up at 4.30am to swim for a few hours, I was riding five hours a day – if you are going to be good you’ve got to do it.”
Mottram felt he needed to also be committed to his studies for himself and out of respect for his parents: “My parents had spent a lot of time and effort getting me to a good school and I wanted to get through that and set off my life well. Fortunately for me and my family I make my living from running now. But I am glad I got school done and have done university and all that sort of stuff.”
Early on Mottram ran a fast 1500m and news of that reached Nic Bideau who is now his coach: “Nic flew over to watch me run at the school sports. I wanted to run a schools record for 3K of under 8min 21.5sec. Rob De Castella had set it when he was going through school. He was pretty famous so I thought that would be good running. It was 36 degrees. I went off with a 56sec first lap; I didn’t know what I was doing! I just ran hard. I got slower and slower and ran 8min 22.1sec. Nic said ‘I think you’ve got some ability.”
At the time Bideau was Cathy Freeman’s manager. “He said, ‘If I’d met you yesterday you’d have set the record.’ He said, he’d like to give me some help and see how it goes.”
From here Bideau was involved in Mottram’s development as his training progressed and he learned how to race more shrewdly than that early 3K effort!

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