Crowe sets sights on London Olympics

SIXMILEBRIDGE athlete Timmy Crowe is putting a hold on his academic studies to pursue his sporting ambition of qualifying for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
A prodigious talent, the gangly athlete is taking time out from studying physical education at Dublin City University with the blessing of his father, Tim, himself a former international athlete, to concentrate on achieving the qualifying standard.
“It wasn’t a difficult decision to put my studies on hold,” he admitted to The Clare Champion, adding, “I’m so close to the qualifying standard that I’d regret it in time if I didn’t do everything in my powers to get to the Olympics.”
Not taking his place in DCU in September will allow the 19-year-old be based at home at Cappa South and work with his team of coaches out of University of Limerick.
“I want to devote everything, all my focus, towards getting to London. The Olympics come around every four years but who knows what I’ll be doing in four years time. The opportunity is there now and it would be shame if I didn’t go for it,” he acknowledged.
Although a relative newcomer to the competitive world of international athletics, Crowe has shown a natural flair and talent belying his inexperience on the track and particularly in the 400m hurdles, an event his father was a national champion in back in the ’80s.
At the start of the year, Crowe’s personal best stood at 53.40 but on the back of some superlative performances on the international circuit, he has trimmed more than two seconds off that mark already.
At the recent European U-23 championships in the Czech Republic, Crowe recorded a personal best of 51.24. However, while he has to improve on that to get his ticket to London, he believes it is well within his scope.
“My coaches have every faith in me and are very confident that I’ll achieve the qualifying standard. They’ve expressed surprise that I haven’t done so already, bearing in mind that I’ve already qualified for the European seniors in Helsinki next June,” he admitted.
“While a couple of races late in the season didn’t go according to plan, 49.80 is a very realistic target for me. I’d be awfully disappointed if I didn’t knock more than a second off my PB to get there,” he said.
His father, Tim is supervising his training regime, drawing up the itinerary in consultation with coaches, Drew and Hayley Harrison, who work with the Limerick International Elite Squad in UL, while Liam Reilly, who coaches Irish 50km walker Robert Heffernan, will help Timmy in the key area of strength and conditioning.
Interestingly, one of Timmy’s training partners in the squad, Tramore’s Tommy Barr won the 400m hurdles title at the National Athletics Finals in Morton Stadium a few weeks ago, an event Timmy, who races in the singlet of Dooneen Athletic Club, finished third in.
“The national final was one race than didn’t go to plan and in the end my technique let me down,” he lamented.
“I went out pretty fast and ran a great first half to the race. When I went to kick on and push that bit extra, I mixed up my strides and hit hurdles six and seven. That ended my chances of winning. It was one of those races,” he acknowledged.
While no hurdle will be allowed come in his way as his search of that elusive time of 49.80 becomes an obsession, Timmy won’t benefit from any funding from the Irish Sports Council for his training.
“I’ll be training full-time but unfortunately I’ll have to fund it myself. I’ll be relying on my parents, Tim and Bernie, to dig me out but I’ll be putting my CV out there in the hope of getting some work. In terms of funding from the ISC, I’m coming in at the bottom,” he revealed.
Now that athletics is in the off-season Timmy, ranked seventh in his age group in Europe, plans to spend the next six months building up his stamina reserves and brushing up on his hurdling technique.
“There’s 300 days to the cut-off mark for qualification. I’m counting down the days but not getting too stressed about it just yet. I’ll concentrate over the next few months on getting everything right and being ready. I’ll probably have six or seven shots at getting the qualifying time. It will be hell for leather in the new year,” he added.
Athletics and the London qualification will become his lifestyle for the next 10 months. Everything will be geared towards that end.
“Ireland can qualify three athletes for the 400m hurdles. Nobody has hit the qualifying mark just yet. I suppose the three real candidates are Tommy Barr, Jason Harvey from Northern Ireland and myself.
“I genuinely can’t see anyone coming through to edge us out and neither can I see the three of us not achieving the qualifying standard,” he predicted.