Asda Athletes

Can’t believe its been nearly a month since my last blog update and so much has happened

Three weeks ago I competed in the Welsh School’s Athletics Championships in the hammer and the discus. I had pretty poor performances in both: finishing fifth in the discus but came 1st in the hammer. With that first place then I guaranteed my selection for SIAB which is the School’s International Championships. I competed there on July 21st after travelling a horrible 9 hours on the bus the day before. I know I could have performed so much better on the day but came away with 4th place with a throw of 44.68 a mere 1m98cm off getting that silver medal. I was devastated to say the least! But all in all it was an amazing experience and competing for Wales just makes me feel so proud to be Welsh.

I have the British Championships coming up the end of August and hopefully the Celtic Games a week before it, just waiting to see if I get selected to once again represent my country and have the opportunity to get the medal and the distance I so badly wanted this weekend.

I have also included a photo of me throwing in my Welsh kit :D

Not a very excited blog post but on June 24th I competed in the National Junior League in Aberdare, competing as an u17 against u20’s. Not only did I win the competition by 9 metres I was very consistent in my throws hitting 43 or 44 in all except one I also had a winning throw of 44.44m and was also throwing with a number 4 on my vest. Now its not very likely that that will ever happen again is it?

Well I must admit this last months worth of competitions haven’t been great but with exams nearly over it should give me the chance to relax and really get back into my training again as its had to come second to my education for the last few months.

Since the 12th of May I’ve had 5 competitions meaning in the last 6 weeks I’ve only had one weekend off.

On the 12th of May I competed in the South and East Wales Regional Championships, in not only the hammer but in the discus and shot as well. I didn’t throw great distances but threw well enough to win the South Regional gold medals but threw further than the East Wales athletes in the under 17 ages group as well.

Two weeks later I traveled to Cwmbran to compete in the Welsh Senior League on May 27th. In this competition I competed in just the hammer throwing a distance of 41.11 which is 5m down on my personal best but with the stress of exams taking over it is a decent distance. This throw also won me first place in the whole of Wales also beating the senior athletes.

The following week I competed and officiated in the Welsh Jubilee Championships which was the 2nd-4th of June. Once again it wasn’t a great distance in the hammer with a throw of only 41.13 but once again it got me into first place. I then competed in the discus as well throwing 32.19 which is a seasons best but only got me 4th place.

Since then I have competed in a Senior League again and a Young Athletes League. The Senior League was held in Swansea where I competed in the discus throwing 30.09 and the shot throwing 8.19 then surprised everyone by running a 1500m in 9:27 (everyone who knows me knows I hate running a lap of the track let alone 3 and 3/4 laps) was very proud of myself for doing it and intend on doing it again this season.

In Sunday’s Young Athletes League I threw shot, discus and hammer again coming 1st in the hammer and 2nd in the shot and the discus: none of which were great throws but got valuable points for the club.

Last week I also attended the ASDA Kwik cricket tournament in Newbridge Fields where I met up with Bridgend’s Community Life Champion. During the day I spoke to the kids, told them about my sport and my ambitions for the future, joined in on their warm-up, handed out fruit and drinks and then gave them all their certificates at the end of the day. It was a really enjoyable two days and luckily it didn’t rain.

I also have received some footage of me throwing in the Olympic Stadium in London last month so I’ve included the video with this blog \

My first fundraiser has been confirmed for June 23rd. I will be bag packing instore in Bridgend so get down there and support me and the local athletics club :)

Haven’t updated my blog in a while but life’s been hectic with school, revision, training and preparing for the School Games. It was an amazing time spent with the Welsh team.

It was a great shame we were split up with the boys in one hotel and the girls in another and a 45 minute drive between us but we overcame this challenge and had amazing team spirit when we finally met up again.

In the opening ceremony we had Tanni Grey-Thompson and Seb Coe talking to us, it truly was amazing. We then spent a day and a half in the Excel Centre which is where a lot of sports are going to be held for the Olympics itself, sports such as Volleyball, Judo, Badminton, Table Tennis and the Gymnastics.

It was a great experience seeing young athletes of all ages competing to the best of their ability and knowing that they train as hard as I have to get their place on the team and to come out and compete for their country.

On Wednesday 9th of May it was finally my turn to compete. I let the pressure of how big the competition was get to me and personally I don’t think I competed well though I threw near to my personal best and received a silver medal in the Olympic Stadium.

It was one of the best experiences of my life and to think that the best throwers and athletes in the World are going to be in there in just a few months is amazing!
I’ve got my Welsh Championships coming up in two weeks time but the atmosphere and the pressure is going to be no where near as big as nearly two weeks ago but it’s going to be a good competition.