BERNARD Lagat will go head-to-head with Craig Mottram on Newcastle’s Quayside course next month in a race that organisers hope will see the North-East further its impressive reputation in athletics circles. Mottram broke the world 3,000m road record when he pipped Eliud Kipchoge at last year’s Great North Road Races, and with Lagat preparing to provide the competition this time out, the ambitious Australian will hope to repeat the feat. Lagat – the Kenyan who switched allegiances to the United States following his 1500m silver medal performance at the Athens Olympics – has been in scintillating form this season and completed a unique 1500m and 5,000m double at the American National Championships. And with the pair preparing to face each other in Japan this month, organisers hope Mottram and Lagat will arrive in the North-East as fierce rivals. “They’re both expected to go head-to-head over 5,000m at the World Championships in Osaka,” said Matthew Turnbull, the meeting’s elite athletes director, who feels such a high-profile pairing will ensure another gripping race on September 29. Mottram finished a little over a second ahead of Kipchoge last year, the 27-year-old’s 7.41.7 smashing the record set 16 years earlier by Brahim Boutayeb, the former Olympic 10,000m champion. The popular Australian knows Lagat will push him to the limits when the pair line up in Newcastle next month. “It was hard and it hurt, but I always thought I could do it,” said an athlete whose triumph on Tyneside last year came two weeks after he retained his IAAF World Cup 3,000m title. “It’s a difficult course but I proved nothing is impossible and I’m sure this year’s race will be just as tough.” Turnbull is working hard to assemble a top-class field in the women’s race and will hope Meseret Defar’s 8.46.9 – the Olympic 5,000m champion’s winning time last year was also a world best – can also be challenged. “I’m working hard on both races and I’ll be hoping to make some major signings soon,” added Turnbull, who will attend the World Championships, which start on August 25. PAUL GILDER | 
