Hammer thrower Andy Frost (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies) was today named the UK Challenge Athlete of the Month after May’s six events attracted 1,191 athletes, 237 of whom achieved lifetime best performances.

“It’s been a fantastic start to the new season,” said UK Challenge manager Paul Aldridge. “UK Athletics created this series three years ago to encourage more club athletes to rise to the challenge of improving towards international standards on the way to London 2012 – and they are responding in record numbers.”

The six events in the series during May – Loughborough International, UK CAU Inter-Counties Championships and British League divisional matches – have already generated three Challenge records, by Steph Pywell (Sale Harriers Manchester) in the high jump, Zoe Derham (Birchfield Harriers) in the hammer and most spectacularly Goldie Sayers (Belgrave Harriers), who shot up to second in the world javelin rankings. Each wins a bottle of Heidsieck & Co Monopole Champagne.

But the record-breakers were up-staged for the Athlete of the Month Award by Frost, the reigning UK Challenge hammer champion, who accumulated most points, 595, with throws of 70.00m in the BAL Premiership, 69.65m at Loughborough and 67.48m at the Inter-Counties. He receives an adidas kit package plus a bottle of Heidsieck & Co Monopole Champagne.

It also puts Frost ahead in ‘the Car Challenge’. The athlete who through the season accumulates the most UK Challenge points with their best four performances, plus any bonus points and their overall score at the UK Challenge Final in August, will win the right to drive an Alfa Romeo GT Sports Car for one year. Frost’s 595 points places him ahead of triple jumper Julian Golley (Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow AC), who has 518 points; discus thrower Marcus Gouldbourne (Sale Harriers Manchester) 512 points; shot putter Kieren Kelly (also Sale) 485 points; and teenage sprinter Gerald Phiri (City of Sheffield AC) 467 points.

Frost, Derham, Sayers, hammer thrower Glen Kerr (Bedford and County AC), high jumper Adam Scarr (Enfield and Haringey AC) and 400m hurdler Toby Ulm (Swindon Harriers) were the May winners of £100 each and a bottle of Heidsieck & Co Monopole Champagne – the prizes that will go to the highest point scorers in each of the 50 Challenge qualifying meets throughout the summer.

Frost and Derham are also the early leaders in the UK £5K Golden Challenge that will go to the athlete(s) who achieve the highest points or equal highest at one of the 50 Challenge qualifying events, top their individual event rankings after all 50 qualifying events and win their event at the UK Challenge Final to be staged at Crystal Palace on 25 August.

The facts and figures of May are …

• Of the 1191 athletes who competed in the six Challenge competitions, 682 were men and 409 women
• Power of 10 national standards – introduced by UK Athletics and its governing partners to increase standards in every event in every region – were achieved by a total of 56 athletes – 23 men and 33 women.
• Personal best performances were achieved by 237 competitors – 161 men and 76 women.

Entries are already flooding in for the UK Challenge JumpsFest and ThrowsFest, with £10,000 prize money, at the Alexander Stadium, Birmingham, on 30 June and 1 July.

For all the UK Challenge details, please click here