24 July 2012

Entries close a week today (Tuesday 31 July) for the McCain Jumps and Throws Fest 2012.

The event, which takes place on 11/12 August at the Birmingham Alexander Stadium, offers on-the-day prize money of £250 for first place, £100 for second and £50 for third, in addition to being one of the final opportunities to achieve one of the top four performances required to go towards the overall UK Challenge Series title.

Leading entries to date include Aviva UK Champions and current McCain Challenge leaders Eden Francis (Glenys Morton) and defending Challenge champion Lee Doran (John Davies) in the shot putt and javelin respectively, Tom Parsons (Aston Moore) and Isobel Pooley (Fuzz Ahmed) in the men’s and women’s high jump, Max Eaves (Alan Richardson) in the pole vault, defending champion and current leader Sarah Holt (Bob Weir) in the hammer and Laura Whittingham in the women’s javelin (Esa Utriainen), plus Paralympic Games-bound Stef Reid (Keith Antoine) who will finalise her Games preparations in the long jump.

"I am so excited to be competing in the McCain Jumps and Throw Fest because it will be my last meet before the Paralympics,” said Beijing Paralympic Games bronze medallist Reid.  “It is a high quality meet, both in terms of the competitors and management, and is the perfect place to fine tune my performance. I first broke the F44 Long Jump World Record at the 2010 Jumps and Throws Fest, so I have wonderful memories of the event!”

Entries are restricted in a number of events or are fast approaching capacity so enter now and before next week’s deadline through the following link: http://www.uka.org.uk/competitions/uk-challenge/jumpsfest-throwsfest/

The McCain UK Challenge is a nationwide, season long competition comprising a series of events from May through to September which form the McCain UK Challenge, and an athlete’s best four performances across the series determines who wins the overall series title.

In addition to the individual event prize money, there will be spot prizes awarded on the day in Birmingham for British National records and UK age-group records, in addition to performance of the day awards for both men and women.

For more information go to the dedicated McCain UK Challenge pages on the UKA website.