Throws GP sees record entries at Livingston

Tuesday 12th April 2016

The scottishathletics Throws Grand Prix Series got underway for the second year at the weekend with record entries for the first meeting at Craigswood Livingston.

The 15 event competition attracted 170 entries with 76 PBs over all the events.

IPC World Champion Jo Butterfield  (Red Star/Forth Valley) went straight to No1 Ranking in the World for F51 Club with a throw of 22.21m. She also threw 7.46m in the discus. Both throws were well in excess of the IPC standard required for the Rio Paralympics.

George Evans (Shaftesbury B/Inverness H) was unable to repeat the splendid 57.21m in the discus which he threw at the open graded meeting at Inverness the day before, but  a throw on the day of 54.03  takes the World Youth Bronze Medalist straight to No1 ranking for UK.

There were also two outstanding performances in the hammer with Andrew Costello (Kilbarchan) throwing in the U17 hammer improving his PB by 3 metres with a throw of 57.21. Not to be outdone in the younger age group, Matt MacFarlane (Inverness Harriers) added an amazing 7metres to his PB in the U15 Boys hammer with a throw of 44.53m.

scottishathletics National Coach Mentor for Throws, Hugh Murray, said: “This is a great opening to the season for the throws. An IPC World Lead was achieved together with, many Power of 10 UK  standards and lots of PBs.

“Support from the masters athletes for events was also encouraging. Scottish throwers throughout all age groups are now improving standards  and participation in all throws events. I really do see the event-specific Grand Prix Series format as the way forward.”

The next meeting in the series is  Saturday 4 June at Craigswood Livingston. Due to the increasing popularity of the event it may be necessary to make some changes to the format and timetable for the event These will be published on the website.

The remaining events at Craigswood are as follows:

Saturday 4 June: Enter online

Saturday 23 July: Enter online

Saturday 3 September: Enter online

With thanks to Hugh Murray, National Coach Mentor Throws, and to Jo Butterfield on Twitter for photograph of her club throw.

Tags: Andrew Costello, George Evans, Hugh Murray, Jo Butterfield, Matt MacFarlane, Throws Grand Prix