Bank Holiday Weekend report

30 April -02 May 2011

With events going on around the country, the start of the National Junior League, the newly amalgamated Southern Athletics League and the BUCS outdoor athletics championships, it was hard not to notice a little anticipation in the air of what was to come.

It wasn’t by any means the opening of the season, but for many it was their chance to stake their claim on 2011 and announce their intentions, and for the spectators at Loughborough and Bedford they certainly weren’t disappointed.

2011 after all is a year of vital importance, not only just because the Olympics is around the corner, but for the Seniors we have the World Champs in August, the U23’s have the European Champs and some may have the World University Games, the U20’s also have the European Champs, the U18’s have the World Youth Games and the European Youth Olympics.

I was unable to be at any of the events this weekend so I was watching for results to slowly come through as with other weekends, but I was soon to find my facebook and twitter alerts jumping on my screen in quick succession as if they were jumping beans.

Saturday’s results began coming through for the women events with PB’s for Tesni Ward (50.58m) and Sophie Thomas (46.98m) showing that there is a real depth in talent coming through the younger age groups in women’s javelin.

Sunday was to be one of those days where I sat glued to my laptop awaiting results, and through they came, and what a day of performances it was.

From the National Junior League the performances of the day came from Joe Dunderdale, achieving U20 automatic qualification for the European Juniors, throwing 68.41m, Benji Pearson throwing 67.22m increasing his PB by over 5 metres and Sam Taylor-Outridge throwing 65.96m.

The results from the BUCS qualifying were next and one after another the excitement continued to build. With Bedford once again showing that it is a great venue for javelin throwing we had James Campbell competing as a guest but wowing the crowds with an awesome performance and launching the first 80m throw of the year at 80.18m.

Matthew Hunt was next in the honours list by showing that he wasn’t to be left behind by any means adding nearly 5 metres on to his PB with a throw of 76.77m and taking the top spot in the U23’s and quickly followed by Richard Shuttleworth who added to his PB, throwing 67.96m.

With the BUCS final coming the following day, I don’t think there was a fan around not wondering what was in store. Despite the continued good weather James Campbell wasn’t able to add to his impressive 80m throw a day earlier, but I was reliably told, “it is coming, there was an 82 in warm up.” Richard Shuttleworth came out determined to gain back his U20 top spot and did so with a throw of 68.71. The U20’s showing that there is going to be a real challenge for international spots this year.

What a weekend and what an exciting year we have in store for UK javelin throwers! Who is looking forward to next week?

Be sure to complete your entries for the UKJA Javelin Carnival on the 12th June 2011 on our microsite http://carnival.ukjav.com, sponsored by Nordic, with a new javelin being awarded to every winner. It will undoubtedly be one of the hottest UK javelin events of the year.