Crowe’s Moscow hopes fade

Middle-distance athlete Laura Crowe may have to throw in the towel on achieving qualification for next month’s World Championships.

Having shaved three seconds of her 800m personal best this summer, Crowe is within touching distance of the B standard for Moscow, though admitted the clock is now firmly against her.

This weekend’s National Championships at Morton Stadium represent a final chance for athletes to secure their ticket to Russia, but the Kerry native accepted that the necessary time is unlikely to materialise.

“The national championships are not going to be very fast, they are normally tactical affairs. I wasn’t really banking on standards this weekend,” she said.

“I tried to find a race this week, but it just proved too hard. There was very little on. There was a race in Sweden on Tuesday night, but I couldn’t get into it.

“My focus is on the Europeans next year. Being Irish I feel we can achieve a lot at those kinds of championships. Moscow is great, but it is another level. There is no point being there just for the sake of it. I want to be up there competing.”

The 25-year-old was expected to double-up this weekend, but pacing duties at the London Diamond League last night put paid to such notions. Instead, Crowe bids to secure a first national title over the 1,500m tomorrow.

“I am pacing the first 600m of the 800m in the London diamond league. It was an opportunity you just couldn’t turn down, it’s in the Olympic Stadium. I’ll fly back on Saturday then for the 1,500m.

“I have never won an outdoor national championship. This is my first time in the 1,500m outdoors; I’ve been close over the 800m, but I am really looking forward to it.”

Crowe has enjoyed a remarkable season on the track, due in no small part to the decision to concentrate full-time on athletics.

At the end of last year, Crowe, along with boyfriend Mark Hanrahan, had reached a crossroads. She was pottering along with a decent track career along with her day job at Novartis. Deep down, however, there was a burning desire to give athletics a real go.

“It was a difficult decision,” she said of focusing fully on athletics. “I have my degree, masters and work experience behind me. This was the next stepping stone in my life. I felt I needed to give myself the full opportunity to do this and see what I could do. We did a lot of planning before we made that decision, we kinda said, ‘Right, what do we need to sort out before we can go full-time?’

“We were moving house at the time, everything was a big change, but everyone around us was very supportive. My company Novartis helped me and Mark’s employer John Buckley Sports also helped. I’m enjoying every moment, appreciating it as well because I was never able to do this before. We dedicate the majority of our day to athletics, if we’re not running, we’re thinking about it. We love it. That’s what makes it easy, it’s not a chore.

“The times have really started to fall since I made the move to full-time. It was as close as last December that I was only training once a day, it is getting that extra gym work and extra run in, being able to recover then in between, that’s where the seconds are.”

Crowe has lowered her 800m personal best from 2.05.67 to 2.02.63, while also knocking four seconds off her 1,500m best to 4.12.25 and with plans to continue racing in the coming weeks, those times could yet fall further.

“I plan to race into August with a view to looking at the European outdoors next year. I am not sure what the criteria is whether you can attain the standards this year and they will count for next year, it would be great if you get your standard this year and then train the way you want to train up until the Europeans.”

Moscow will come and go, but Laura Crowe you feel will be around for a while to come.

* The Woodie’s DIY National Senior Track and Field Championships takes place in Morton Stadium, Santry.