Craig Pickering

[white lightning]

Excellent post trackster! Craig needs to be head strong like Lemaitre. Don't let anyone intimidate you and don't let the losses stick in your head. Every race is different. Look at Shane Crawford. No one thought he would run that fast again as it has been 4-5 years since he ran that fast. If Craig can get healthy, the times will come again. Stay positive Craig.

 

[albinosprint]

well said trackster!

 

[white lightning]

Here is the latest update from Craig Pickerings Blog. He will race a few times in the next week!


<H2 =date-er>Wednesday, 25 May 2011</H2>
<DIV =date-posts>
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<DIV ="post hentry"><A name=4284503879407412421></A>
<H3 ="post-title entry-title">Quick Update </H3>
<DIV =post-er>
<DIV =post-er-line-1>
<DIV id=post--4284503879407412421 ="post- entry-">After coming back from Italy, I competed at the Loughborough International, where I came 3rd in the 100m in 10.15. Unfortunately for me, this was accompanied by a following wind of +3.5m/s, which is over the allowable limit, and so my time does not count for record or qualification purposes.

I am due to race in Hengelo, Holland this Sunday, and then Ostrava next Tuesday. Hopefully the conditions will be a little more favourable, and I can build on my performance at Loughborough and hopefully run under 10.25 seconds legally, which will be a big step towards the World Championships qualifying standard of 10.18 seconds. I face tough competition though - Usain Bolt will be in Ostrava!

I will keep you posted with my results.
<DIV style="CLEAR: both">

 

[white lightning]

I know I have always been a big Craig Pickering Fan but many here have given up on him too quick. He has battled injuries for 3-4 years now. We also know that he has had alot of tension between himself and his teammates. What makes me happy is that despite barely coming back from an injury, he has already blown away his fastest times from last year. He ran a 10.23 wind legal a few days ago and races again today in Ostrava. His fitness is not quite there yet but I really think we should stay behind this kid. If healthy combined with his new style, I can see him possibly getting back in the mix by next year. This year he has to just focus on getting his body used to racing again without breaking down. He is still a young man. I'm hoping for big things and consistancy as the summer rolls on. Here is his bio showing his personal bests for career and from last year. His fastest time last season was a dreadful 10.38 so Craig is already on the right track.
http://www.tilastopaja.org/db/atmeaa.php?ID=8538

 

[white lightning]

Craig ran a 10.31 today out of lane 8 in Ostrava. Nothing special but it is still progress from last season and it was his 2nd race in 3 days. Let's hope he can get some good rest now and come out in a few weeks and go sub 10.20 which would be a great starting point.

 

[white lightning]

This is a very interesting blog. I wish more sprinters would share thier stories. Thanks again to Craig for giving us a glimpse into the life of a sprinter. We are rooting for you here at Castefootball.


<H2 =date-er>Wednesday, 1 June 2011</H2>
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<DIV ="post hentry"><A name=4318297352841522270></A>
<H3 ="post-title entry-title">Craig Pickering's Tour of Europe â€" Part One </H3>
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<DIV =Msonormal>

<DIV =Msonormal><?: PREFIX = O /><O></O>
<DIV =Msonormal>Now that the athletics season is properly underway, my annual trips to various parts of Europe has begun. I started off with two races in quick succession â€" Hengelo (Holland) on May 29<SUP>th</SUP>, and Ostrava (Czech Republic) on May 31<SUP>st</SUP>. Trips in and around Europe often involve lots of travel, and this was no different. To get to Hengelo, I flew to Amsterdam and had a two-hour car journey to Hengelo itself. Getting to Ostrava was much more interesting. I was supposed to fly from Düsseldorf, but, instead (and through no fault of my own) was mistakenly driven to Amsterdam airport by my driver. As it was 7am in the morning when we arrived, and I had been sleeping in the car, it took me a few minutes to realise what had happened. I remember thinking, "Why are the signs in Dutch, and not German?" And then it dawned on me! I had to pay €400 to change my flights to fly from Amsterdam to Prague, have a 6 hour stop-over in Prague airport, and then fly to Ostrava. All in all, I spent 14 hours travelling that day, leaving my first hotel at 5am and arriving in my Ostrava hotel at 7pm.
<DIV =Msonormal>

<DIV =Msonormal>The races themselves were fairly solid. In Hengelo, I ran 10.23 (+1.1), which is my second fastest legal time since 2008. Unfortunately, I couldn't back it up in the final, coming last in 10.38. In Ostrava, I was unfortunate to catch a race without a favourable following wind, running 10.31 (-0.2). In hindsight, this was a pretty solid run, as with a +1 wind it could have easily become a 10.24 performance. Ostrava was a very high quality race, won by Usain Bolt in 9.91 seconds. Indeed, six people in the race had run under 10 seconds in their career!
<DIV =Msonormal>

<DIV =Msonormal>Overall, I am relatively happy with how I am running. I am having some issues relating to a lot of the training I missed due to injury, which are causing me to under-perform slightly. I am probably going to spend 3-4 weeks in June doing some proper training in order to try to rectify these issues, so hopefully come July I will be running a tenth of a second or so faster. Fingers crossed!

 

[white lightning]

<div id="Blog1" ="widget Blog">
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<h2 ="date-er">Wednesday, 22 June 2011</font></span></h2>
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<div ="post hentry"><a name="7158859049000864575"></a>
<h3 ="post-title entry-title"><a href="http://craigpickering1014.blogspot.com/2011/06/craig-pickerings-tour-of-europe-parts-2.html" target="_blank">Craig
Pickering's Tour of Europe â€" Parts 2 &amp; 3</font></a> </h3>
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<div ="Msonormal">
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<div ="Msonormal">In my last blog post, I gave a quick run over of my races
in Holland and the Czech Republic. The day after I got back from the Czech
Republic I had relay practice in London in preparation for a race in Germany
that weekend. Relay practice went well, and the next day we flew to Munich, then
took a short coach trip to Regensburg, where I would be running the relay for
Great Britain. Unfortunately we were disqualified in the race, due to a freak
accident involving one of our athletes. As he was running, he accidentally hit
the baton against his leg, and dropped it!</div>
<div ="Msonormal">
</div>
<div ="Msonormal">As soon as I got back from Germany, I moved house with my
girlfriend up to my new training centre in Loughborough. This was a very busy
time, with most of my non-training time spent packing and then unpacking.</div>
<div ="Msonormal">
</div>
<div ="Msonormal">A couple of weeks later I was off to Stockholm for the
European Team Championships as part of the 4x100m relay squad for Great Britain.
On the Friday night, we ran in a "B"Â relay, running 38.72, which ranked us
second in Europe this year. It was a useful race for us, as it gave us plenty of
confidence to go into the main race the next day and try to win. For me, the
main race provided and individual challenge â€" on my leg was Christophe Lemaitre,
who 90 minutes earlier had run 9.95 seconds. I think I ran a good leg, and
managed to hold off Lemaitre â€" and, as a bonus, the team managed to win in a
European leading time of 38.60.</div>
<div ="Msonormal">
</div>
<div ="Msonormal">My next race will be on July 2^nd</font>, so between now
and then I will just be focusing on training (as still unpacking from my house
move!). </div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>

 

[white lightning]

Craig races tommorow against a stellar field in Birmingham. I am going to make a prediction. I think he will get the World Championships A Standard of 10.18 tommorow. The only bad thing is he will have to race twice which makes it harder to get the standard. Neverless, he goes under 10.18 tommorow in my opinion.<div></div><div>Come on Craig. We are still rooting for you. London is only a year away!</div>

 

[white lightning]

Craig had a dreadful start. He was 2nd to last out of the blocks in the race. He just ended up having too much ground to make up. He ended up running another 10.23 which is a nice time but not what I had hoped for. He is still only five hundredths of a second from getting the A Standard for the World Champs. I hope he can do it soon as the mental pressure appears to be wearing on him. I will say this. Craig is running far better than he has in the last couple of years. Maybe we will see the Craig of 2007 before too long. Keeping my fingers crossed as we approach the London Olympics in 2012!

 

[white lightning]

I can tell that most of you guys seem to have given up on Craig. I haven't yet. He still has time. Last season he awful for the most part. This year he is looking alot more like his old self. He has run a windy 10.15, 10.23, 10.27, 10.29, and 10.23 again recently. I know these times are not great but he is finally in the 10.20's consistantly again. That is a starting point to getting back to sub 10.20 and hopefully a sub 10.10 by the end of the summer. Let's stay behind this kid. He needs our support! Here is a new article on Craig.

http://www.miltonkeynes.co.uk/sport/pickering_desperate_to_lay_beijing_ghost_to_rest_1_2862142

 

[albinosprint]

I haven't given up on him. he has all the tools to get the job done, I just wish he can get it all together.

 

[white lightning]

He is actually out running all of the other white sprinters for average times except Lemaitre and Guliyev. He has run faster than JayConn on average, all of the german, australian and italian sprinters. The only other guy who has done a little better is Dariusz Kuc who I also hope can get a little faster over the next month. Craig is due for a breakthrough race soon. I sure hope it happens soon as he needs it psychologically. Good luck to him at the UK Trials.

 

[white lightning]

Craig finished 2nd at the English Champs today in a time of 10.17 but it wasn't wind legal. He barely lost and he looked very good. Craig ran a wind legal 10.19 in the semi finals which is another step in the right direction. The guy is almost back to the Craig of old. I've never given up on him and I'm happy to say that he is now safely qualified to go to the World Champs in the individual 100 and as part of the relay team. Way to go Craig!

 

[mastermulti]

yep that is pretty good compared to last two seasons.
I'm as happyforyou as for him W/L heyhey

 

[white is right]

You know I think this was just the English championships and the national trials are in two weeks. Either way this is a good sign. He is in similar form to 07'. I think a victory for Pickering would be a semi-final berth in the 100 and a medal of some kind in the relays.

 

[albinosprint]

great news! glade to see him coming back to form.

 

[white lightning]

Another update from his blog. He ran three races last weekend and despite a bad cold set a new seasons best. Way to go Craig!



The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy as I have been doing a short block of races for my final tune up before the UK Championships and World Championship Selection Trials in Birmingham on July 29[SUP]th[/SUP] – 31[SUP]st[/SUP]. My first race was the Birmingham Diamond League, where I competed in the 100m. This was a really high profile race, and I was ranked eight (i.e. last) fastest in my heat, so I knew I was up against it. I love competing in those situations though, where you know you have to run to the best of your ability. I think I did that, running an equal seasons best of 10.23, despite the rain, and coming sixth in my heat, and tenth overall.


My next race was at the England Championships. I had had a cold for the week prior to this, and woke up on the day feeling pretty rough. I remember considering pulling out before my heat, but figured I would just run and see how it went. I’m glad I did, because I ran a comfortable 10.29, which was a huge confidence booster. I then had another good run in my semi-final, clocking 10.19, just 0.01 seconds off the World Championships A standard, and my fastest time since 2008. It was a bittersweet feeling though, as the clock stopped at 10.18 (the A standard) – I thought I had achieved the standard, only for it to have been rounded up. In the final I ran 10.17 wind assisted for second behind my training partner, Harry Aikines-Aryeety.


I now have a two-week period in order to prepare for the Trials. During this time I will be having my second epidural of the year in order to help reduce some back pain I have been getting, and hopefully getting over this cold!

 

[waterbed]

10.19 is great, I think a lot of us didn't expect anything from him anymore.The strange thing with him was that he on his best around 2007 could run 6.5 indoors 60 meters but not outside in the first 60 meters of the 100 meter with good climate and without haid wind or even bit pushing wind. he runned in hist fastest 100 meters in the 6.6 range 60 meter if I rember correct, this means he never hit his potential.

 

[white lightning]

Craig qualified for the semi finals of the UK Championships today. He coasted to a 10.40 in the quarterfinals. It's a tough field with even Dwain Chambers fighting for a spot on the World Championship Squad. Hoping Craig can qualify for the finals and then run a new p.b. It will be very difficult however with the weather over there and running 3 rounds in two days. We will see what happens. Come on Craig!

 

[white lightning]

Craig made the finals runnng a casual 10.32 in the semis. The finals is in about an hour or so. Good luck to him.op2:

 

[white lightning]

Damn. I couldn't watch the UK Trials but Craig pulled out of the 100 meter finals. I don't get it. It's really sad because it kills his chance of making the individual spot and now they may not even have him on the 4 x 100 Relay Squad. Dwain Chambers won the finals running a 10.07 with H.A.A. and M. Devonish both tieing for 2nd with a 10.14! It would have taken a p.b. for Craig to win but I at least wanted to see him have a chance! Hope it's a minor injury with the London Oympics only a year away. Not looking good for him.

 

[mastermulti]

here's Craig's race from yesterday.
He pops straight up (as Guliyev had been doing) as if running scared. No composure as far as I'm concerned. He finishes quickly but he didn't set up his race well in the early phases and you can't come back from that against top sprinters.
To me his lack of confidence is very apparent

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm4pcp64lsk&feature=related


his 10.19 from some weeks back was encouraging but,as so often in the past, he regresses rather than pressing on through

 

[greyghost]

pickering

true, complete lack of confidence:wof:.maybe fear of injury. but when in doubt ?, there is no doubt, dont compete.

 

[Soccer&track]

Yeah he definitely lost that race right in the beginning. It's beyond me why he would do that after having hours and hours of practice and coaching. Once he got going he looked pretty fast though. I think he still has a chance in the next couple years to get close to 10 or under!

 

[TheBigAlabama]

The most important issue is who will Craig and the other great sprinters Father children with?! Too many great whites athletes are not being more selective in this area!! This goes for all of us who have athletic genesor those with great intelligence or those with superior work ethics!

We have some what of a watered down gene pool.


Warriors think ahead while they prepare for battle!!