Crayford strives to reach great heights

BILLY CRAYFORD is a high jump tragic.

He has his own You Tube compilation of the world’s greatest leapers and trains and competes in the hope of joining them one day.

For the moment his focus is on winning a seventh national title at the end of the month and he hopes to take a small step towards that at the Wellington championships at Newton Park today.

Crayford, 26, has a personal best of 2.15m and showed he is not far off his best with a clearance at 2.06m last month. ‘‘I’m really pumped,’’ Crayford said. ‘‘I think I can go close to my PB and maybe beat it. This will be a good gauge to my chances at the nationals.’’

The Commonwealth Games qualifying mark is 2.27m, a height Crayford accepts is beyond him in the short term.

‘‘This Commonwealth Games isn’t realistic but if I stay in the sport, the next Com Games are a possibility, even the next Olympics [Rio, 2016]. It just depends on my training and how hard I go.

‘‘High jumpers can often hit a peak right up until their early 30s. I want to get up to the 2.20 mark.

‘‘That is the big landmark in high jump, it shows you are attempting to break through to the elite level.’’

Crayford is a former Wellington College student, who first made his name as a jumper in year 12. He studied sports management in Auckland after leaving school and is currently working in the adidas store on Lambton Quay while waiting for a sports marketing role to crop up.