Meghan bidding to boost shot put record
East Kilbride athletics star Meghan Porterfield could be on the verge of a new shot put record after she and her mum recently returned to competition.
Meghan Porterfield has already stretched her under-15 record by throwing 13.96m at Meadowmill last weekend, and mum Mhairi – who is also an accomplished thrower – reckons she’ll breach the 14 metre mark in competition on September 13.
Both are just getting back into shot put competition having come through lockdown, and Mhairi is just grateful to have any events at all at the moment.
But she says Meghan, 14, is on the verge of something special.
Mhairi said:“It’s great to be back out there. I didn’t think we would get any competition this year, but Scottish Athletics have worked really hard to put some competitions on for us.
“It was weird to be back in a circle with a stop-board, and at the end of your throw you reverse where your feet are and hit against the stop-board, which stops you from coming out of the circle.
“We weren’t used to it, and in our first competition back we both fouled our first two throws each.
“Meghan bounced back the next week, spectacularly. There weren’t really any placings or anything, but she has extended her under-15 Scottish record, by a fair bit.
“She threw 13 metres 96 centimetres, so her PB is now better than mine.
“Her first two throws on August 22 were further, but because she fell out of the circle they don’t count, but we have another competition on September 13, and I think we’re hoping she can break the 14-metre mark.”
Mhairi admits competition under restrictions is strange and knows just hopes there will be titles to contend for come 2021.
She added:“There are no national championships or anything, but they’ve worked really hard to get us some competitions, which has been great.
“You can only compete in one event per day, nobody is allowed to watch, and you’re straight back home again, but it has been good just to be able to compete again, to be honest.
“We were out at the weekend and the weekend before that, and just being in a circle with a stop-board was strange, because we had been throwing off a path into a park!
“I’m kind of taking it as it comes just now. I can’t see there being an indoor season, the virus is still out there, so I don’t think anybody will risk competing indoors at the moment.
“I hope there is a season next year, starting in April-time, but we’ll see.
“We’re both hoping to compete when we get back out of lockdown properly, and just se what we can do, but it’s very much a case of take it as it comes.”