City trio help Britain to European success
Clarke shines with MK's finest centre stage
Three Milton Keynes athletes helped Great Britain to second place in the European Team Championships in Bergen, Norway, at the weekend.
Craig Pickering, Chris Clarke and Mervyn Luckwell performed brilliantly as GB narrowly lost out to Russia.
Pickering ran the second leg of the 4x100m relay, and in a tight finish, GB were edged out by Italy for the win, but crossed the line ahead of Poland to take second place.
Clarke raced in the third leg of the 4x400m relay, with another close race ending in the team also finishing a respectable second behind Russia.
In the javelin, British number one Mervyn Luckwell threw a strong 71.80m, but up against a tough field that was only good enough for eighth place overall.
Great Britain's head coach Charles van Commenee was pleased with the performance of his side and to have pipped Germany for second.
"Individual performances were pretty encouraging," he said.
"I'm optimistic ahead of the European Championships next month. The athletes took responsibility and handled the pressure."
The MK Athletics Club trio, along with fellow city athlete Greg Rutherford and a host of others, will be looking to qualify for the European Championships in Barcelona next month with strong displays at this weekend's UK Championships and Euro Trials in Birmingham.
Time to deliver for Pickering
Sprinter Craig Pickering admitted he needs to rediscover the best form of his career sooner rather than later if his European Championship dream is to have a chance of becoming reality this summer.
By his own admission, the Marshall Milton Keynes Athletic Club man has failed to make the sprinting world sit up and take notice this year - or even in the last couple - clocking a season's best time of 10.38 seconds.
And with the UK Athletics qualifying standard to compete at the European Championship standing at a time of 10.21 seconds, the 23-year-old from Shenley Lodge knows he has got his work cut out to make the grade.
But former European Indoor silver medallist Pickering - who will this year represent the city of Plymouth at next month's Super8 event - is refusing to give up on his ticket to Barcelona just yet.
"I haven't quite got to where I want to be at the moment - I'm not running as quick as I'd like," said Pickering, who made the quarter-final stage of the 100m at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
"I'm not sure what it is - I'm not injured and my training has been going well, it's just that the speed is not there at the moment.
"Hopefully that will change ahead of the European Trials this week because I really want to make the team. Of course there is a lot of competition but I feel I can make the team. I need to start running quicker though."
The Super8 event in Glasgow on July 7 follows hot on the heels of this weekend's European Trials and UK Championships in Birmingham. Pickering is bidding to replicate his 2009 performance when he announced his presnece on the UK scene in style.
He blew away the field in the 100m at the inaugural event in Cardiff last year to grab gold with a time of 10.24 seconds, racing then for a North London team.
But with GB Olympians Mark Lewis-Francis and Christian Malcolm set to line up alongside him this time out, Pickering admits he will have to be at his very best to retain his title.
"I enjoyed last year's event and to win the 100m was particularly pleasing," he said. "It's a short and sharp event and I think it's great for athletics - the normal meetings can get a bid boring sometimes but I' sure this could really catch on. I'm glad it's been brought back this year."
Should Pickering impress at the UK Trials and reach the European Championship qualifying time for Barcelona, he'll jet off with the rest of the British team at the end of July.
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Weather for Milton Keynes
Wednesday 23 May 2012
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