The debutants - Part 4

Harry Pugh

A great action shot of Harry competing in the 2010 Isle of Man Track & Field Championships at the NSC (photo kindly supplied by Harry)

28 year old Harry was first introduced to javelin throwing at the age of 14 when, as a young cricketer at Birkenhead School, he demonstrated a powerful throwing arm when fielding on the boundary. He was referred to Wirral Athletic Club, and within a year he was competing at county level and had won the Merseyside Championships for his age group.

Harry then moved on to Liverpool Harriers, where he was taken under the wing of GB coach Dean Williams with immediate success. As an Under 17 he was one of the youngest competitors in the British Men’s League, as well as competing in the Northern Men’s League. He also received occasional coaching from John Trower (coach to Steve Backley) and the late Wilf Paish (Mick Hill’s coach). He became North of England Champion and competed again for his county and for the North West of England in the Under 17 and Under 20 age groups, before heading to University.

Football is another of Harry's talents, and he played for the University football team in his first year while athletics took a back seat. In his second year he took up the javelin again, and came third in the BUSA Championship (throwing a pb of 54.40m) and was invited to throw internationally in a competition between Scotland, Wales, England and a Great Britain select team. Unfortunately he was unable to take up his selection as he suffered a serious elbow injury which put paid to his javelin throwing for several years. In the meantime he went back to football, and for four years played professionally for Northwich Victoria, Southport and Tranmere Rovers.

In 2007 Harry moved to the Isle of Man to live, as his mother was Manx born and her family still live on the island. In 2010, having realised that his competitive instinct was still there and with his elbow recovered, he decided to take take up the javelin again. He competed for Manx Harriers in both the Northern League and the IOM Championships, and comfortably exceeded the Island Games main guideline.

Harry has been very much part of the squad activities over the winter, and having a sportsman of his talent and experience on board is a great boost to the team. I hope he has an enjoyable and successful Island Games debut.

Hannah Howard

Happy Hannah! All smiles after her impressive victory in the 2010 Isle of Man Half Marathon race at Ramsey (photo Adrian Cowin)

26-year-old distance runner Hannah is probably the least-known member of the team to her teammates. Manx-born, she lived on the island until going to University at the age of 18. She started doing some jogging with friends to keep fit whilst there, but had no thoughts at all of competitive running at that time. After finishing University she moved to Southampton to take up a post as a chemical engineer at the Fawley Oil Refinery (where she still works), and shortly afterwards she joined the nearby Eastleigh Running Club - primarily to meet new people and as a means to get to know the area.

The rest, as they say, is history! Hannah competed in her first race as recently as 2009, and immediately showed great ability as a distance runner. However it was only in early 2010 that she started training really seriously, having linked up with a good coach. She is now a prolific competitor over the longer distances and has already achieved a lot in a short running career to date. It is remarkable how high a standard she reached in her first season of competition, and she has continued to improve steadily since.

Hannah still visits the Isle of Man regularly to see her parents, and last August she won the Ramsey Half Marathon with a confident and very assured run. It was at that time that she made enquiries about the Island Games, and has since kept in regular touch with team manager Anthony Brand. Her Half Marathon pb currently stands at 83.24, set in Gosport last November, and if she can perform to that standard in the Games she will challenge strongly in both the individual and team events. She is entered in the 10,000m race on the track as well, and should go well in this race also.

Hannah has previously competed in road races on the Isle of Wight, and living just over the water from the island she has recently taken the opportunity to go over and have a run round the Island Games Half Marathon course. She has reported back in detail to her Half Marathon teammates, information which is much appreciated by them all! Hannah will also be coming over to the Isle of Man to attend the squad training day on 1st June, when she is looking forward to meeting her teammates ahead of the Games.

I am sure that Hannah will thoroughly enjoy her first taste of the Island Games experience, and will be inspired to reach an even higher level in two years time.

Lee Corlett

A member of Western AC, 19 year old Lee has been a regular competitor in throwing events over the past few years since he was in the Under 15 age group. As well as competing on home turf, he has regularly taken part in off-island events such as the Northern League and Lancashire Championships over the past three seasons.

After showing a lot of promise in his first year as an Under 17 in 2007, he really kicked on the following year, improving his shot pb from 10.81m to 11.99m, and his discus pb from 29.62m to 34.84m. During his first year in the Under 20 age group in the 2009 season he consolidated his performances throwing the junior weight implements, and also competed several times throwing the full senior weights. By the end of that season his pbs throwing the full weights were 31.42m for the discus and 10.50m for the shot, both of which were not too far short of the Island Games development guidelines.

2010 was the year when Lee really made the breakthrough towards Island Games consideration. His discus and shot pbs improved to 38.46m and 11.26m respectively, both comfortably over the development guidelines and in the case of the discus very close to the main guideline. After a winter of hard work Lee has started the 2011 season in good form, and fully deserves his selection for his debut Island Games. He will compete in both the discus and shot putt events in the Isle of Wight.

Lee's sporting talents don't stop at athletics either - he is also a very good downhill mountain biker, and has enjoyed a lot of success in that sport over the last few years. It is great to see some really good young talent emerging in the throwing events, an area where we have struggled a bit in recent years, and Lee has enjoyed excellent coaching support from Michael Callow and Island Games teammate Louise Kneen. Lee is one of the bright prospects of local athletics and I hope he has a very enjoyable Island Games debut.