14 January 2013

UKA has today announced the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team for the International Indoor Match Combined Events meeting in Valencia, Spain, on 26-27 January. The event will be held at Valencia’s Velodrom Lluis Puig Sports Hall, the same venue used for the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships.

Recently crowned England Athletics Combined Events gold medallists Michael Holden (coach: Fayyaz Ahmed) and Karla Drew (Toni Minichiello) will headline the GB&NI senior teams which will compete against teams from Spain, the Czech Republic, France and the Netherlands.

Drew set a 339 point personal best after recording 4136 to take gold in Sheffield whilst Grace Clements (Julie Hollman), who also won bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, Jo Rowland (Ian Grant) and Jade Surman (Femi Akinsanya) will make up the rest of the senior women’s team.

2010 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Martin Brockman (self-coached) was second at the England Athletics Combined Events Championships in Sheffield last weekend and he and Holden will be joined by Ben Hazell (Greg Richards) and John Lane (Toni Minichiello) in the four-strong senior men’s team.

David Guest (Mike Guest), Jack Andrew (Christopher Bartram) and Daniel Needham (Trevor Painter/Roy Needham) will go up against teams from Spain and France in the under-23 men’s event whilst the under-23 women’s team will consist of Katy Marchant (Toni Minichiello), Emma Buckett (Bill Jewers) and Jazmin Dotzek (Christopher Bartram).

The junior teams will also compete against athletes from Spain and France with David Omoregie (Mike Guest), David Hall (Paul Searing) and Aled Price (Edward Thompson) representing GB&NI in the junior men’s match.

The junior women’s team will be led by 15 year old Morgan Lake (Eldon Lake), who is the national junior champion and the best in the world for her age, and she will be joined by Danielle McGifford (Sharon-Louise Walls) and Brogan Crowley (Christopher Bartram).

The full GB&NI team is as follows:

Senior Men:

Michael Holden
Martin Brockman
Ben Hazell
John Lane 

Senior Women:

Karla Drew
Grace Clements
Jo Rowland
Jade Surman

Under-23 Men:

David Guest
Jack Andrew
Daniel Needham 

Under-23 Women:

Katy Marchant
Emma Buckett
Jazmin Dotzek 

Junior Men:

David Omoregie
David Hall
Aled Price 

Junior Women:

Morgan Lake
Danielle McGifford
Brogan Crowley