St Mary’s Athletes Selected for European Championships

A number of athletes from the Endurance Performance and Coaching Centre (EPACC) at St Mary’s University, Twickenham have been selected to represent team Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the European Athletics Championships on 12^th – 17^th August in Zurich, Switzerland. Out of the 74 strong team for GB & NI, 10 currently train or are associated with the University, which is one of the leading higher education institutions for sport in the UK. Among the athletes named in the British Athletics announcement on Tuesday 15^th July, St Mary’s alumnus Andrew Osagie will compete in the Men’s 800m event, whilst current student Charlie Grice will run in the Men’s 1500m event. Meanwhile in the Women’s events Emelia Gorecka and student Beth Potter will compete in the 5,000m and 10,000m events respectively. They will join more than 600 athletes from 12 countries compete in 20 different track and field events. St Mary’s Performance Coach Craig Winrow said, “Once again St Mary’s EPACC athletes are providing nearly 50 per cent of the endurance team selected for the European Championships, confirming the success of the Centre. There are some great medal hopes for the champs and we wish all the athletes the very best.” St Mary’s has run an endurance programme since 2001, with London Marathon as the principal sponsor. EPACC was then formed in 2009 by Sport St Mary’s, again in partnership with the London Marathon, as an England Athletics Coach Development Centre. It provides a world-class endurance environment and several of Great Britain’s most talented distance runners work out of the centre, including Steph Twell, Andrew Osagie, Ross Murray, Charlotte Purdue, Andy Baddeley and Scott Overall. Full athlete list competing in the European Championships: Andrew Osagie – 800m (St Mary’s Alumnus and EPACC athlete, 800m London 2012 Olympic Semi-Finalist and 800m 2014 World Indoor Bronze medallist) Charlie Grice – 1500m (Sport Science and Management Studies Student and EPACC athlete, European U23 Championship Silver medallist) Mo Farah – 5,000m and 10,000m (St Mary’s Alumnus and EPACC athlete, 5000m and 10,000m 2012 Olympic Gold medallist) Andy Vernon – 5,000m and 10,000m (St Mary’s alumnus and EPACC athlete, 5000m 2011 World University Games Gold medallist) Chris Thompson – 10,000m (EPACC athlete, 5000m 2010 European Championships Silver medallist) Andy Turner – 110m hurdle (110m hurdle 2011 World Championships Bronze medallist) Emelia Gorecka – 5000m (EPACC athlete, 2013 European Junior Cross Country Champion) Jo Pavey – 5000m and 10,000m (EPACC athlete, London 2012 Olympic finalist) Julia Bleasdale – 10,000m (EPACC athlete, London 2012 Olympic finalist) Beth Potter – 10,000m (St Mary’ current student and EPACC athlete, 5000m 2011 British Championships Bronze medallist)