Sophie hammers the image

Sophie Hitchon, the 20year- old British record holder in the hammer, believes her achievements canhelp dispel theimageof women throwers as muscle-bound and masculine.

The Lancashire athlete has started the season as i mpressively as any Olympic hopeful, breaking the national record three times, most recently with a throw of 71.61 metres in Chula Vista, California, last month.

The world junior champion’s flying start to the summermeans she already has the Olympic A-standard, having added more than two metres to the British record she threw.

It is a feat she could scarcely have imagined during a childhood when balletwasthe focus, but she feels feats like hers are making the discipline more attractive to youngsters.

She said: “You don’t need to be huge and have loads of hair.”

The damage ensured Mannofield was ruled out of hosting two of the Saltires’ CB40 fixtures against English county opposition this month and thegroundsman’sattempts to repair it have been so far unsuccessful.

He said: “I’m still hopeful, but we’re cutting it fine now. The first set of overseeding was done at the end of March but it didn’t take too well as some of the weedkiller was still there. I overseeded the area again last Thursday and I can do nothing but hope it takes this time. It will be 10 days to a fortnight before I know if it has worked and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for some warm weather as

Ken Mccurdie