Crawley Athletic Club

Representing Great Britain, Adrian Haines picked up a fantastic two Bronze medals in the World Indoor Track & Field Championships in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada.

Haines progressed through the rounds of the 800m and was delighted to make the final where he set a new personal best time of 2min 03.9sec to take bronze.

Three days later he lined up in the 1500m and recorded another personal best by a massive 7 seconds to collect bronze in 4min 17.5sec. Adrian was just edged out of Silver by the Moroccan ex Olympian Elarbi Khattabi.

Injuries happen to all of us eventually. When injury strikes two important questions need to be answered. Why did this part of my body breakdown? Why did it breakdown now? Seeking the advice of a medical professional e.g. Osteopath, Physiotherapist is vital to address these questions.

Knowing why a particular injury occurred is essential to formulating the correct rehabilitation programme. Take for example an Achilles tendon injury – is this due to tight calf muscles, incorrect foot function, biomechanical gait issues, a pelvic problem or some other reason? Identifying the cause leads to identifying the solution.

The goal of rehabilitation is a return to previous levels of activity. The additional goal of good rehabilitation is to prevent re-occurrence of the injury. An improvement in function is a realistic target if the correct root cause has been identified. An injury may highlight an area of weakness that, once addressed, results in improved performance.

Clearly rehabilitation programmes work best when tailored to the individual. The central principles are :-

1.     Return to full range of movement – pain free.

2.     Strengthen muscles statically.

3.     Restore/improve proprioception.

4.     Strengthen muscles dynamically.

5.     Sports specific exercises.

6.     Gradual return to full participation in chosen activity.

Steps   1 – 6 are not necessarily taken in order or even one at a time. Exercises for each stage may overlap and should have a progression that builds towards the goals identified.

So next time you suffer the frustration of an injury take time to identify the root cause and use your rehabilitation to improve yourself. The injury could turn out to be a blessing in disguise !

Terence Barnes Msc B.Ost
Community Osteopathic Clinic (01293 763075)
Shaw House, Pegler Way, Crawley

Crawleys athletes returned home with a clutch of medals from the final Sussex League cross country race of the season, at Lancing Manor on Saturday.

Chris Johnson led the senior mens ‘A’ team home with a respectable 5th place in 28min 36sec for a hilly 5 mile course. Neil Smith had another excellent run in 7th position, his highest position for the XC league season. Tim Kimber secured 13th place closely followed by Dave Rayner having a solid run in 16th position. 800m track man Nick Duggan continued to improve with a fine 19th position. Mark Parry made a welcome return to racing by securing the final ‘A’ team position in 21st place after a seven month injury layoff.

Recovering from a hamstring injury new vet signing, Simon Powell led the ‘B’ team home in 37th place. Dave Beattie had another good run in 55th position closely followed by Graham West in 61st place. Chris Cheeseman made a welcome return to racing by securing the final ‘B’ team position in 67th place. Vet 50 athlete Jeremy Carmichael had a solid run in 75th position, his highest position in the XC league this season.

The senior mens team secured a team silver for the Division 1 league, whilst Chris Johnson collected an individual bronze for the league series. in the masters category the mens team took gold and two athletes took individual silver medals. Dave Beattie in the M60 category and Viesturs Dude in M40.

The senior mens team secured a team silver for the Division 1 league, whilst Chris Johnson collected an individual bronze for the league series. in the masters category the mens team took gold and two athletes took individual silver medals. Dave Beattie in the M60 category and Viesturs Dude in M40.

Another fine run by Lauren Callaghan led the U13 girls team home to take the league silver medals. Team mates Paige Clark, Sophie Mansfield and Holly Talbut-Smith completed the medal winning team.

Lucinda Steel and Ben Golding both had their best runs of the season. Lucinda taking 5th overall in the Under 15 girls race and Ben 4th in the Under 13 Boys. This success was emulated by Simon Williams in the Under 15 boys race on the hilly 2.8 mile course.

Competition was tough in the ladies race where Crawleys A team were sitting second in Division One, but with a slim 5 point margin. With two last minute injuries and a strong turnout from Arena 80, medal hopes looked dashed. However, the team rose to the challenge in style.  Youngest member of the team Abigail Ashbee Simmonds led the team home in 6th place overall, taking 1st place in the Under 17 category. This was Simmonds first time on the tough Downland senior course. Under 20 Emily McLoughlin had her best run of the season to take 19th, closely followed by Kirsty Fenn 22ndand Sue Aldridge 23rd. The team took the league silver medals and Ashbee Simmonds a well deserved individual gold.

The B team of Helen Jukes 37th, Ann Buckett 43rd and Jane Dotzek 44th finished a creditable 3rd on the day. This brought  the overall finishing position of the B team up to 6th out of the 19 teams in Division Two.