Latest News
Welsh Nationals Success | 19/02/2012 |
Crawley Town athletes showed strong form at the start of the Lifesaving season. A small number from the club were invited to compete in the Welsh National Championships, just a fortnight before the UK championships are held in Sheffield. Crawley’s four men combined well in the weekend’s opening 4x25m manikin relay. Holding off strong competition from Mumbles to take bronze, only putting water between themselves and the challenging Mumbles in the final 25m. The four men, Laurie and Marcus Hughes, Sam O’Connor and Luke Peel each swam well in the individual 50m Carry. Peel taking the internal club honours, beating O’Connor by a mere third of a second. Greater success was realized by men in the 100m manikin carry. Both the Hughes brothers and Peel all achieved personal best times. Whilst O’Connor showed a true return to form, posting his best time in the last 2 years to take silver. Jennifer Ellison joined the 4-man team for the Sunday events, picking up silver in the Rescue medley and 100m Manikin tow. O’Connor also swam well to win Silver in the 100 tow. The stand out individual performance of the weekend was Ellison’s superb performance in the 200m Super Lifesaver, taking gold over strong competition from Mumbles and Rhoose. The four men combined once more for the final relay of the weekend. Peel leading off the medley relay team, before Marcus Hughes swam the second leg to establish Crawley in the mix for a medal. Laurie Hughes swam Crawley into the potential for bronze, tied on the final change with 3 other teams. O’Connor pulled clear on the last leg to leave a 2 second buffer between Crawley and 3rd. Rounding the weekend off nicely with a medal. | |
Zara most valuable female at Commonwealths 2011 | 09/10/2011 |
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Crawley Town are European SERC Champions | 22/09/2011 |
A four-man team comprising Laurie Hughes, Gary Lee (Capt.), Sam O’Connor and Luke Peel stormed the competition with an impressive margin, beating long time rivals Real Club Nautico de Tenerife by an impressive 36 point margin. The Crawley team went into the completion as defending European champions, however a large amount of team restructuring has taken place in the 6 years since the previous European Championships leaving just one member of the four man team that were victorious last time around.
The three new boys’ relative inexperience was not brought to the floor however, as the team dealt comfortably with a SERC comprising of five casualties in the water and a further unconscious and non breathing casualty on the poolside. Lee took a commanding role allowing his experience to flow through the team that operated as a single unit. A unit that managed to secure a place in the World Championship final, eleven months prior to their European debut.
Further success was found later in the week as Wayne Holroyd and Alistair Reid joined Hughes on the beach. Hughes revelled in his first taste of international competition last week as he qualified through to the quarter-final of the Beach Flags (a test of a competitors reactions and acceleration on sand), only to miss out on the semis by a single place. Holroyd’s class on the sand is testimony to his numerous international appearances. The defending European Champion was disqualified by a particularly harsh false start call in the final.
Crawley Town Life Saving Club are looking to build on the successes they found in Alicante, Spain as they focus on the World Championships in Australia next year. | |
Crawley Town teach local children water safety | 28/06/2011 |
A team of Crawley Town Life Saving Club's members went into Gossops Green Primary school today, in order to teach the children how to be safe in, on and around water.
Luke and Trudie Peel as well as Sam O'Connor will again visit the school on Thursday the 30th June to discuss the potential dangers of water, from weirs to water butts; the main message they were trying to convey is that your safety must always come first when in, on or around water! | |
To the lake! | 14/06/2011 |
We will be heading down to Southwater Country Park Lake on 21st June. Tuesday 21st June will be our first week down at Southwater Country Park Lake. We will meet at the lake at 18:30 and usually stay until dusk (around 20:00). We will then have the pool from 21:00 - 22:00 and members are welcome to go back to K2 to use this facility to train.
If you have never been to the lake before, please let Emily know if you have any questions. You will all need to make sure you bring along a signed copy of the agreement, otherwise you will not be allowed in the water. You will also not be allowed in the water if you do not have a brightly coloured swimming hat. • Beach Safety Operating Procedures | |
Crawley Town competitors fight for points at National Surf Life Saving Championships | 21/09/2010 |
Late August saw the beginning of a series of championship weekends held around the coasts of Britain. A ladies youth team from Crawley Town travelled down to Falmouth to pit themselves head to head with the best of the rest in the UK, in a tough two-day Competition.
Zara Williams and Sophie Morgan (under 19) teamed up with Jo O'Connor (under 16) and all scored points (top 16 in final) in beach sprints and flags, Williams closest to medal positions in 5th and 4th respectively. Morgan and Williams scored heavily with a silver medal in the tube rescue and an 8th place finish in the board rescue. Jo was the only one of the trio to finish inside the points in the board race, battling hard to come 15th. The girls also scored points in both the sprint and Surf swim relays, but the result did not stand because O'Connor was competing outside of her age group. Not to be out done, Morgan and Williams registered 10th and 2nd place finishes in the Surf Swim final.
The following weekend Williams took advantage of dual nationality to race at the Welsh national Championships, winning 3 silver medals in the under 19 surf swim, tube rescue and board rescue. Other events across the weekend resulted in further top-ten finishes: Beach flags and Double Ski 5th, beach sprint 4th and Board race 8th. Williams also swam in the Open taplin relay to claim yet another silver medal.
A fortnight later and it was the turn of the men to race on Tolcarne Beach, Newquay. Coached by Gary Lee; Rory Hopcraft, Luke Peel and Sam O'Connor, like the ladies, fight for points with clubs who bring teams tenfold the size of Crawley Town's four man team. Rory Hopcraft took a 5th place finish in the beach flags in a final with both the Australian national champion and the UK's own European Champion. Hopcraft and O'Connor combined to match that result in the Tube rescue with another 5th place finish in the final. Peel was Crawley's single representative to appear in the beach Sprint quarter-finals. The weekend was capped nicely for Crawley town with 7th and 13th place finishes for Hopcraft and O'Connor respectively, in the 2km beach run.
The boys are building on this performance before heading to Egypt in October. | |
Crawley Town win South East Regional Beach Championships | 18/07/2010 |
Seven members of Crawley Town Life Saving Club were selected for the Sussex team that faced Kent and the rest of the South East in the 'South East Regional Championships' held in Ramsgate on Sunday. Following last week's success at their own Sussex Championships, the Crawley Town ladies Sarah Cousins, Sophie Morgan, Jo O'Connor and Zara Williams swapped Crawley shirts for Sussex colours and gave an inspired performance, their worst result a tie on aggregate in the 2km beach run.
The men, Rory Hopcraft, Jeff Lutz and Sam O'Connor joined by Brighton's Robin Johnson also dispatched Kent with an equally impressive display of power speed and endurance to match the Crawley ladies point for point across the day.
Hopcraft, Lutz and O'Connor are looking to continue such form into the World Championships in October when they fly out to Egypt. | |
Crawley Town win Sussex Beach Championships | 11/07/2010 |
Crawley Town Life Saving Club took top honours this weekend in the Sussex Beach Championships; proving good form leading up to an exciting summer. The 'A' team picked up wins in four events; and their worst result in the other half of competition, on the Sunday, was a dominating 3rd. Rory Hopcraft, Jeff Lutz, Sophie Morgan and Sam O'Connor went on to win the overall event comfortably and hope to continue this run of form, as they go onto compete against the rest of the South East Region next week.
The 'A' team's performance levels were aided by Crawley's 'B' team comprising Sarah Cousins, Jo O'Connor and Zara Williams who finished 4th overall, picking up 2 event wins, despite the lack of a team member.
Hopcraft, Lutz and O'Connor will be heading out to Egypt for the 2010 World Championships later this year, Joined by Luke Peel they will be looking for further success on the international stage when they join other Crawley Town members in October. | |
Crawley Town heading to World Championships in Egypt | 09/07/2010 |
Crawley have entered 9 competitors into the Life Saving World Championships, this year held in Alexandria, Egypt. Gary Lee, John Stainer, Abi Hoyle, Jo Blackwell, Jeff Lutz, Rory Hopcraft, Sam O'Connor and Luke Peel will be representing the club in October. | |
