athletes thrive at Pickering Memorial Throws International

Charlotte Payne and Lawson Capes among the competitors at Loughborough as funds are raised for charity in new event

The inaugural Pickering Memorial Throws International on Monday (May 27) at Loughborough University showcased some of Europe’s best up-and-coming athletes.

Athletes Thrive

With the meeting falling one year after the death of Shaun Pickering, the event raised £664 in ticket sales and raffle tickets for the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund and the Personal Best Foundation.

Shot put

The day started in the glorious sunshine with the shot put competition, where athletes competed together across age groups and para events from under-18 to under-23. In the men’s event it was a shaky start for Lawson Capes as he started with a foul leaving a gap for Ireland’s Theo Hanlon to take an early lead. However shot putting greatness certainly runs in the family as Capes retaliated in the second round with 17.54m.

At the halfway point, these two athletes were one metre clear of the rest of the field with Capes bettering his best put to 17.70m. Switzerland’s Jephte Vogel recorded 17.42m but it would not be enough to challenge the higher positions. Unable to catch Capes’ attempt, Hanlon had to settle for second place.

Fabio Zamparelli, an F20 athlete from Cornwall, had a consistent series with four of his six throws over 13 metres with a best of 13.82m in the third round.

It was a double victory for England as Cleo Agyepong fended off the challenge from Swiss Mia Feer to take the win with 15.12m over Feer’s 15.00m. In third place under-18 Isabelle Stamp didn’t let the high level of competition intimidate her as she threw 14.66m in the fourth round. England’s Amy Thompson, an F41 thrower, saved the best until last throwing a season’s best of 7.97m, just 1cm short of her personal best.

Cleo Agyepong (Sakura Sports Media)

Hammer

Next up on the opposite side of the track was the hammer and England had four athletes in action. In the men’s event it was a close battle between Wyatt Larkins, Louis Tutcher and Kai Barham. It took a while for Larkins to settle into the competition, with three fouls all hitting the net it was a question of whether he would be able to respond to Tutcher who had thrown a PB of 66.26m in the third round with Barham advancing to 65.58m.

Into the fifth round, Larkins threw his furthest of the day to better Tutcher’s mark with 66.83m – just enough to see him take second place with under-18 Tutcher and under-20 Barham in third and fourth respectively. Thomas Williams representing Ireland could not be beaten as the only athlete surpassing 70 metres with 72.82m PB.

Team captain Charlotte Payne was back representing England one week after claiming victory at the Loughborough International. Despite being below her best this season, she still managed to take the win with a 66.58m throw in her first round ahead of Ireland’s under-20 athlete, Caoimhe Gallen’s 57.90m.

Charlotte Payne (Sakura Sports Media)

Javelin

The third event of the day was the javelin as the sunshine and little wind made for perfect throwing conditions. Dominating the competition from the first throw, Charlie Evans was back after finishing fourth at Loughborough International to take an early lead with 70.08m in the first round.

Commonwealth Youth Games silver medallist, Tom Rutter took first in the under-18 men’s event with a throw of 62.15m, finishing fourth overall on distance. Ben Jones finished up in fifth overall with 61.94m.

In the women’s event, Commonwealth Youth Games record-holder Ayesha Jones had a relatively consistent competition throwing 49.54m in the final round to claim first place over Sporting Lisbon’s Marta Trovoada. In the lighter weight, Elise Christian, Jessica Howells and Harriet Court were representing England. All athletes finishing within one metre of each other, it was Christian who finished on top, with 44.34m then Howells and Court finishing with best throws of 43.85m and 43.18 respectively.

Dan Pembroke congratulates Charlie Evans (Sakura Sports Media)

Discus

The final event of the day was discus, and it seemed to be a race against the clock to try and beat the imminent rain storm that was descending over Loughborough. With the conditions holding off until round five, it was just enough time for winner Teddy Gannon to not only get a decent throw in, but to achieve a lifetime best of 55.82m to take first place ahead of Pietro Dal Soglio from Italy. England’s Timi Babatunde finished up in third place with 51.22m.

Teddy Gannon (Sakura Sports Media)

It was all very close at the top of the leader board in the women’s event between Ireland’s Anna Gavigan, Switzerland’s Gaida Borin and Loughborough’s Taia Tunstall with the Irish athlete finishing on top with a fifth round throw of 49.10m and Borin in second (48.88m). Tunstall fought against the elements to claim third with 48.51m also in the fifth round. England under-20 Nubia Evans-Shields finished in fourth with a PB of 47.87m, some two metres better than her previous personal best of 45.15m. It was unfortunately not meant to be for England’s Gabriella Tcheukam who had a tricky series of fouls into the net which cost her throughout the competition.

Pickering Memorial Throws International (Sakura Sports Media)

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