DSA Athletes excel at Stoke Mandeville

A fine weekend for both the British weather and our DSAUK athletes who took part in the Stoke Mandeville Grand Prix open athletics meeting held at the Stoke Mandeville stadium, the birthplace of the Paralympic games.

The event was organised and hosted by the British Wheelchair and Amputee Association and with over 150 registered competitors from all over the world was one of the largest disability events to be staged in 2011. The event also gave athletes another opportunity to achieve qualifying standards for the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

A glorious bright and sunny Saturday morning saw the field events kick off with the men’s shot for class F40 to F46 athletes. Our DSAUK men’s athletes produced some outstanding results with 3 of them getting new PB’s. Kyron Duke produced a throw of 9.79m; Michael Pope threw 7.93m and Thomas Burton achieved 7.61m. Despite Tom’s new PB, Andrew Martin just managed to stay ahead of him on the day with a throw of 7.62m

In the women’s shot event, Holly Neill and Vicky Silk competed along with Yvonne McClosky from Ireland. Holly won the event with a throw of 6.88m while Vicky recorded a new PB of 6.67m. Yvonne McClosky threw a creditable 4.30m

The bright weather continued into Saturday afternoon for the men’s F40-F42 Javelin competition. After his success two weeks ago at Bedford, Andrew Martin put in another good performance, again registering a ‘B’ qualifying throw with a distance of 25.06m. Jack Gambrill also put in another solid performance with a throw of 22.10m.

Sunday morning again brought sunshine to the Stoke Mandeville stadium where the field events started with the men’s discus for F40-F46 athletes. The sole F40 athlete was Thomas Burton who, with his 6^th and final throw of the competition achieved a new PB of 24.18m and with that throw joined the growing list of DSAUK athletes achieving at least a ‘B’ qualifying standard for London 2012.

Later on Sunday morning, Yvonne McCloskey from Ireland took part in the women’s javelin competition and threw a very good 13.29m.

Two more IPC sanctioned competitions remain in 2011 for our athletes to improve on their seasons performances and achieve those all important qualifying distances for London 2012. Keep an eye out on the website for reports on how they get on.