Winter long throws predict spectacular summer

Day 2 of the Winter Long Throws Championships saw many PBs bettered and a number of new Championship Best Performances created. It was a great quality competition experience for our younger throwers to stand them in good stead for the future. In addition to the competition, three Q&A sessions were held for the athletes and their coaches and parents - with legends of hammer, discus and javelin.

Discus

The day started with a fantastic two CBPs within the first hour, courtesy of the U18 and U16 men’s discus! Blue skies greeted the athletes and although it was still very cold, the sunshine surely spurred everyone on. Archie Oates (Crawley AC, Mike Winch) produced a solid series of throws, with his fifth round just one centimetre off his own PB and although there was a huge effort put into his last throw, he’ll have to wait until next time to break that.

The U18s also had a great competition; Moyo Stumpenhusen (Rugby & Northampton, Gary Herrington) in his second competition of the year (the first a return to the Swedish indoor throws earlier this month) was just shy of 60m but enough to beat his own CBP by four metres. Chu Ononogbu (Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers,Clyde Gordon) added two metres onto his PB to take silver. Harry Beard (City of Sheffield and Dearne AC, Greg Beard) came up from behind in the final round also with a PB to snatch bronze.

Another event, another CBP. This time it was the female discus throwers who were out to impress. The cross-headwind helped the right handers but this competition not so advantageous for the three left handers. This didn’t seem to worry U16 Adanna Udechuku (Colchester & Tendring AC, Emeka Udechuku) who showed she meant business with a six metre PB in the third round of a nicely rounded 39.00m. This leapfrogged her in top spot today over rival Ruby Arnold (Derby Athletic Club, Barry Hawksworth) who also recorded a new PB. Third placed Clarice Thorne-Henderson (Winchester & District AC, Martin McBriar) also pulled out a PB in the fifth round. Adanna gets another year at the top of her age group due to the upcoming age group changes and so she’ll be one to watch this summer.

Sidney Shorrock (West Cheshire AC) dominated the U18 competition and added over two metres to her own PB as well as breaking the Championship Best Performance. The battle for the other medals was close, with Elkie Baker (London Heathside, Neville Thompson) pulling out a 40m+ to take silver from Beth Pendlebury (Trafford AC, Michael Martin).

Javelin

The U18 men’s javelin saw a great head-to-head with three athletes already over 60m, Ned Scott (Winchester & District AC, Bronwin Carter/Martin McBriar) held the lead for the first five rounds, but Henry Jones (Reading AC, Sam Harrison) was nipping at his heels all the way through and finally put out a massive PB of 64.72m for his final attempt to take gold. Ben Clarke (Bury AC, John Conroy) earned bronze with a solid 60.44m early on in the competition. William Getti Connop (Medway and Maidstone AC, Mark Chapman) dominated in the U16 event and his new PB gave him a clear five metre lead over Arthur Rogers (Brighton & Hove AC, Robert Willows/Richard Pilling) in silver.

As during yesterday, the female javelin throwers got the worst of the weather, with some rain and a strong crosswind. While U16 Mila Desborough (Wimborne AC, Bronwin Carter/Ashley Long) threw out over 44m in her second attempt, behind her Sophia Horsfall-Samb (City of York AC, Craig Pounder) and Emily Elphick (Bedford & County AC) traded medal colours throughout, Sophia saving her best until last to consolidate her silver. The story was similar in the U18 event; Lucy Bull started strong and continued to improve on her lead, while Charlotte Pabari (City Of Portsmouth AC, Bronwin Carter) bettered her PB three times and was visibly delighted with her fifth round 47.01m – a good three metres on her best coming into the competition. Before that Scarlette Slater-Rowley (Retford AC, Marjolein Templeton) was in silver position but despite a PB had to then settle for bronze.

We had a fantastic Q&A session with javelin legends Goldie Sayers, Steve Backley, Mark Roberson, Nick Nieland and Mick Hill - and the javelin medallists were presented by their medals by Goldie and Steve.

Hammer

The wind dropped and the rain stopped – conditions were perfect for the last hammer events of the day with much of the results depending on technical and mental preparation. There were a lot of no throws but that provided good championship experience for the young throwers. U16 winner Alfred Rushton (City of Stoke AC) made a tenuous start but managed a 50m+ throw in round three, followed by two more no throws to then pull out a new PB and gold medal winning final effort. Second placed Leon Pullen (Thetford AC) had some issues controlling his throws but also produced a huge 6m PB in the final round with a perfectly executed performance.

In the men’s U18 hammer Gethin Brown (Deeside AAC, Lesley Brown) didn’t show his cards until well into the competition - throwing 61m followed by a second PB of 64.38m which was also a Championship Best and showed that a European standard is beckoning. Rory Witcombe (Blackheath & Bromley Harriers AC, Michael Davies) began with a foul but then was the only athlete to produce a solid run of five throws and awarded silver.

And as the sun set over the stadium and the temperature dropped, Mia Flynn (Bedford & County AC, Darren Kerr) pulled out her winning hammer throw in the final round after a number of no throws – which over that Under 16 event, accounted for over half the attempts.

The final event echoed the very first event of the day – a CBP from the cage. This time it was from the U18 women’s discus – Sophie Robertson (William Main) travelled down from Cumbernauld AAC in Scotland to produce a massive throw of 60.28m. Jess Wilkins (Trafford AC, Lee Doyle) built up her distances from the start to take the England Gold with her PB of 57.25m.

We forward a huge thank you to the field judges who braved two very busy days of officiating in the cold and sometimes wet weather, as well as the Loughborough staff and volunteers, and UKA for their contributions to make the weekend a success.

We wish the throwers the best of luck in their respective selection processes and all the best for the upcomgin summer season.

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