Former harriers athlete selected for Great Britain
Michael Crawley who was a member of Durham City Harriers for many years prior to moving to Edinburgh University four years ago, has gained his second international selection of 2015 by being named in the three person team to represent Great Britain in the World 50km Championships in Doha on 4th December.
There is cause for double celebration as Michael has been (and still is) coached for the last ten years by one of the coaches at Durham City Harriers.
Michael’s progress, until recently, had been hampered through a combination of academic requirements, injury and his passion for travelling the world. However, about two years ago he and his coach had a heart to heart conversation as a result of which he decided to knuckle down and see what he could do.
Within a few months the new approach started to pay dividends. He first finished second in the major 10 mile race in Phoenix Park, Dublin in August 2014 with a big PB of 50:20. Next after some solid cross country performances he was selected to represent Scotland in the international cross country event in Antrim in March of this year. However, his training was already geared toward distance running ambitions and, as part of his build up to the Manchester Marathon in April, he finished a close second in the Scottish 10 mile championships with another impressive PB of 49:37. Two weeks later he ran 2:19:39 to finish fourth in the Manchester race.
As a consequence, Michael is currently ranked 10th in this years UK marathon rankings and also ranked in the top ten in the 10 mile rankings. His marathon time places him top of the Scottish rankings for 2015.
Michael’s preparations for Doha are taking place at high altitude in Ethiopia – not as part of some training camp – but as a consequence of spending a year in East Africa a part of his Phd studies. Coaching is therefore taking place via emails and texts – and occasional planned, short trips back to the UK! Sadly, his improvement cannot be attributed to high altitude training as he only arrived at his study centre four weeks ago (i.e. early September).”