WINDSOR, Slough, Eton & Hounslow Athletics Club star Laurence Clarke will captain the Great Britain & Northern Ireland team at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Prague.

The sprint hurdler, who was recently crowned Sainsbury’s British Indoor champion, was selected by British Athletics Performance Director Neil Black.

Speaking before the start of the event, Clarke said: “It’s an absolute privilege. I’ve worked so hard for so many years to be a part of the team and to be honoured in this way is a great privilege.

"I feel very lucky that Neil has asked me to lead the team and hopefully it will be a very successful championship.

“He said my indoor season has been going very well and I had performed consistently at championships. He felt it was time in my career and I could be an inspiration to some of the team.” Clarke heads to Prague third on the European rankings for 2015 and he is only too aware of the competition he faces at the O2 Arena.

“I want to take it round by round,” he explained. “Consistency for me is the most important thing, if I can get into that environment and perform to the best of my ability that’s what’s important to me.

“I’ve got a tough test. There is Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, Dimitri Bascou, who is European leader at the moment and the world junior champion Wilhem Belocian. There are a lot of people running well.

“I feel really confident in my ability. If I can get out of the starting blocks than I should be mid-7.5secs and that’s where I think the medals will be won.” WSEH athlete Jess Robinson was victorious in the Ladies’ Under 17 pole vault at the National U20/17/15 Championship, clearing 3.70m to take gold.

A number of other athletes from the club also made the trip, with Dan Ibowke finishing eighth in the triple jump with a leap of 13.46m.

In the high jump, Sam Hewitt was ninth with 1.90m and Jamie Horne came 12th after scaling 1.85m.

In the U20 Ladies 800m Becca Croft just missed a medal, finishing fourth in 2:14:44.

In the U17 Ladies 60m, Tia Richards finished in 8.19secs, with Anna Croft clocking 8.35secs and Eloise Baxter 8.40secs. Croft also came fourth in her 300m heat in 42.24secs, while Elena Bisland finished fourth in the 60m hurdles semi-finals in 8.86secs. U15 Orla Brennan clocked 9.75secs in the 60m Hurdles.

HAMMER thrower Taylor Campbell has been selected for the GB U23 team at the European Cup Winter Throws Meeting in Leiria, Portugal on March 14-15.

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