Crawley Athletic Club

Congratulations to the British League Team for a solid second place in Match Two at Bournemouth.

A handful of Crawley athletes competed at Kingston at the weekend (27/28 June) in the inter-counties combined competition - eight counties competing in all.

In the Senior Women category, and competing for Surrey, Jasmin Dotzek won with comparitive ease and 4262 points, although not getting the pb's she might have wanted.  However, an easy qualification into the national finals and plenty of time left in the season will offer opportunties for Jasmin, who is currently very near the top of the UK U20 heptathlon rankings in only her first year in this age-group.

Ellen Franks, competing in the same category but for Sussex finished in 6th position with 3593 points, competing in many events for the first time this year but achieving good pb's in javelin with 31.18 and shot (8.43).

In the Senior Men age-group Bradley Hall battled it out for the Sussex team, finishing 4th overall with 5695 points with a pb in long jump of 6.33 and pole vault with 3.50.

The only junior from Crawley was Oliver Newport, competing for Surrey.  With pb's in hurdles (11.97), shot (10.97) and long jump (5.95) he was lying in first position until his 800m was badly affected by stomach cramps.  He struggled round to finish overall in 3rd position with 2570 points as part of the winning Surrey junior boys team who, together, achieved a championship best performance.

All four athletes will be competing in the English Schools Combined Finals in Bedford in September, whether qualifying as individuals or part of a winning team, or both!

After their best start to a British League campaign for many years. Crawley Athletics Club is looking to push on in their second match at Bournemouth and extend their lead at the top of the division.

After getting an early taste for victory in match one, manager Chris Minn will be looking to prove that taking maximum points was most definitely not a case of beginner's luck in his first match as boss.

With some key athletes coming into the side and others finding form at exactly the right time, Crawley look to be going into this match with an even stronger team. However, with the season well under way it is not just Crawley who will show improvement. Derby, Cambridge and Southampton all made promising starts and will provide a challenge at the top.

Crawley welcome back middle distance talent, Joel Kidger to the team, he will be going in the 1500m after finding the sort of form that took him all the way to the Commonwealth Games. The Pole Vault will feature veteran record holder Nick Buckfield, teaming up with his young protégé Andy Marsh, both capable of taking maximum points in the event.

After running one of his best times in the last match, Joel Clewett will be looking to continue his improvement in the 3km steeple chase. Other highlights include El-Houssine Azzaoui and Luke Sargeant in the 200m; both athletes are competing of the back of impressive performances and will be looking to do some serious damage.

Matt Sinclair, the club's leading quarter miler is another athlete on the verge of great things. Sinclair has consistently been breaking the 50 second barrier and it will only be a matter of time before we see something really special.

The most impressive performances from the first match no doubt came from both relays, with the sprint relay team taking second place and the 4x400m team going one better, recording the clubs first ever victory in the event. Craig Cox, Nick Duggan and junior decathlete Seb Rogers will be joining Sinclair in a bid to try an continue their unbeaten run in all competitions this season.

Club captain, Craig Cox said "Winning that first match created such a buzz amongst the team is not often you get to be part of such a successful team filled with talent and camaraderie. With an average age of just 21, this team has a fearless quality about it and after recording a victory the lads are hungry for more. Credit has to go to Chris Minn who has worked hard to put this team together and make it work and the best way to repay him will be with a league title."

Minn said; "I’m pleased to grab the victory so late on, but it was a little ‘smash and grab’, there is so much more there from everyone and the second match will test us!" The 400 meter hurdler went onto say; “We know we must put more points on the board early on, if we can grab a good result in Bournemouth it will set us up well for the home match!”

In her first year as an U20, Jasmin Dotzek took the bronze medal at the U20 England Combined events Championships at Stoke on 13th and 14th June, with a new PB of 4462 points. She did an individual PB in the 100m hurdles (15.41) High Jump (1.53) and 200m (26.77).