Craig Nicholas Winrow (born 22 December 1971 in

Ormskirk Ormskirk is a market town in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England, north of Liverpool, northwest of St Helens, southeast of Southport and southwest of Preston. Ormskirk is known for its gingerbread. Geography and administ ...

) is a male retired

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

middle-distance runner Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distance event. The 1 ...

competing primarily in the

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since th ...

Early life

Winrow was educated at Burscough Priory High School in

Burscough Burscough () is a town and civil parish in West Lancashire in the ceremonial county of Lancashire, England. It is located to the north of Ormskirk and northwest of Skelmersdale. The parish also includes the hamlet of Tarlscough and the Martin ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

. As a 14 year old student in 1986, he "shattered" the Lancashire Schools' County Athletics Championships in the event, finishing with a time of 2 minutes and 1.3 seconds, beating the previous best by 3 seconds. At the age of 15, he was running in 49 seconds and in 1 minute 51.8 seconds, which was almost level with the UK age-best for his age group. By the age of 16, he was being sponsored by local computer firm

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

Hi-Tech, where he planned to join on a

youth training scheme The Youth Training Scheme (YTS) was the name in the United Kingdom of an on-the-job training course for school leavers aged 16 and 17 and was managed by the Manpower Services Commission. The scheme was first outlined in the 1980 white paper ''A Ne ...

after leaving school. As a young athlete, he looked up to

Steve Ovett Stephen Michael James Ovett, (; born 9 October 1955) is a retired British track athlete. A middle-distance runner, he was the gold medalist in the 800 metres at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, and set 5 world records for 1500 metres and th ...

and was aiming to compete in the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

. In 1987, he was described by

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as being "the most exciting 800-metre prospect in Britain since the schooldays of

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and Coe." Success in athletics came relatively early during his school days, having originally been a sprinter and was described as having "the heritage of a sprint finish that has subsequently devastated his peers".

Athletics career

In the summer of 1989, he was the winner of the 1989 European Athletics Junior Championships 800-metre event in

Varaždin ) , image_photo = , image_skyline = , image_flag = Flag of Varaždin.svg , flag_size = , image_seal = , seal_size = , image_shield = Grb_Grad ...

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

, having initially trailed but overtook everyone on the final lap to victory. He loved running and was known to tell others what they were missing, suggesting that if he wasn't running then he may be "working in a packing factory or something." He represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

in the 800 metres event at the

1994 Commonwealth Games The 1994 Commonwealth Games (French: ''XVéme Jeux du Commonwealth'') were held in Victoria, British Columbia, from 18 to 28 August 1994. Ten types of sports were featured at the Victoria Games: athletics, aquatics, badminton, boxing, cycling ...

in Victoria,

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. He represented Great Britain at the 1996 Summer Olympics reaching the semifinals. His personal bests in the event are 1:45.23 outdoors (Rome 1996) and 1:47.78 indoors (Glasgow 1994).

Coaching

Nowadays he works as a coach. He has trained, among others, Andrew Osagie and Adelle Tracey.

Competition record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winrow, Craig 1971 births Living people People from Ormskirk English male middle-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games competitors for England Olympic athletes for Great Britain