Five young athletes travelled to Grangemouth on Saturday to take part in the Autumn Throws Grand Prix. Although cold, the conditions overall were favourable and led to some outstanding results. The Grand Prix events are an important part of the calendar and are always supported by some of the top field officials in Scotland. This makes for an encouraging competition environment which is so important for young athletes early in their development.
Chloe started early in the first javelin pool. She produced a consistent set of throws but these were off her best. Hopefully a strong block of winter training will bring her back in better shape for the start of the new season.
Joseph, Abraham, Lidya and Alena were up next in discus. This was the first time competing in this event for Joseph and Abraham and they performed very well; Joseph throwing the 1kg for a best of 19.37m and Abraham throwing the 1.25kg for 24.13m. These distances are all the more impressive as both were from a standing throw. They also place well in the Scottish rankings with Joseph moving straight into 6th position and 12th for Abraham. Signs of more to come.
Moving onto the girls, Lidya threw the competition weight for her F35 classification and was pleased with a new pb of 14.40m. She had a couple of longer throws that were just out of the sector so definitely longer throws in there. Alena had a steady set of throws and she will benefit from a block of winter strength training. The whole group will also benefit from the new cage at Crownpoint Road and we are hopeful this will be certified soon, and available for training.
Next up for Lidya was javelin and another pb of 10.52m, adding more than 1.5m to her previous best. Joseph, Abraham and Alena were in the third javelin pool. Again, the boys are fairly new to this event and are still throwing off 3 steps. Despite this, Joseph threw an incredible 28.17m and Abraham an equally impressive 27.48m. This puts Joseph second in the U13 rankings and with another year in this age group, lots of promise for a full season. Alena had a consistent series of throws and came away pleased with her overall performance. She also showed incredible support for one of the athletes from another club, offering her encouragement throughout the competition.
With everyone else home, Joseph and Abraham finished the day in shot put. Abraham topped the mixed age and gender pool with a throw of 9.64m, just shy of his best. Joseph grabbed his third pb of the day with a best throw of 8.59m.
Our young athletes were a credit to the club, thanking all of the officials for their time. Well done to everyone who competed.