This athletics season has brought many aspects of success to my overall career and I’ve started my first senior year well. With the National U23 Championships on the horizon at the end of June, I’ve competed in a few competitions leading up to this.
The main highlight of this very early stage in the season has to be breaking the Dorset County hammer record by 10.75m (this hadn’t previously been broken for a number of years). I also came first in the two senior league competitions that have already taken place in the hammer and discus.
No sport is easy to balance alongside studying for a degree, but the support that I have received from my BU Sports scholarship has been phenomenal. I’ve benefitted from financial support, strength and conditioning training, use of the SportBU gym, physiotherapy and workshops. They’ve all helped me to continue the vigorous training that I need to do – day in, day out – to ultimately get where I need to be.
And that’s not all when it comes to my scholarship. I’ve also purchased new equipment and kit which I’ve been using in my training sessions. Plus, it covered the cost for me to go to the British Universities Championships in Bedford. I can’t thank BU enough for their constant support during my first year as a sports scholar.
At the Championships, I was one of the youngest in the field in both the hammer and discus. I went through to the next round with my first throw in the hammer event, achieving the required distance, and qualified 5th in discus pools; progressing to both of the respective finals. Overall, I finished 5th in the discus and 8th in the hammer. I’m now determined, more than ever, to train harder and bring back a medal next year.
June 2019
