Encouraging Season Opener for Hammer Throwers
On Saturday 2nd February four Colchester Harriers hammer throwers braved freezing conditions to take part in their first competition of 2019 at the Thetford A.C. Winter Throws Series.
Conditions were far from ideal but the snow flurries did stop just in time for the competition to begin.
Young Wyatt Larkins was first in the throwing order, his first three throws were rather cautious in a slippery circle but by the last half of the competition he had built confidence in his technique and he delivered three great throws. His 5th round throw of 28.99m bagged him a new PB and U13 boys club record, a very promising start to the year for this young athlete. Josephine Larkins got off to a slow start but as the competition progressed she found her form and her distances thrown rapidly improved. She ended the competition with a best throw of 42.93m which moves her to second in the UK rankings for U17 women. Watch out for much more from this young lady who has been throwing considerably more in training! Olivia Simon was building in confidence and speed across the circle throughout the rounds but unfortunately injected too much speed in round four and suffered a heavy fall. She showed considerable grit and determination to continue to rounds 5 & 6 but her attempts were understandably rather tentative so she had to settle for a best of 38.97m, enough to propel her to the top of the U15 girls national rankings early in the season.
We are delighted to welcome James Hamblin back to the club this year. James had a very quiet year in terms of training and competition in 2018 so it was great to see him getting his 2019 campaign underway early and delivering a very respectable season’s opener of 54.69m in tricky throwing conditions.