A RECORD DRY SPELL
Hammer landmark at last for Mark
WINNING Commonweal t h Games bronze at Hampden hasn’t yet brought fame or fortune for Mark Dry. But the hammer-throwing hero insisted he got his just rewards last night for years of battling the odds after finally fulfilling his goal of claiming the Scottish record.
The landmark had stood since 1983 but with one throw at yesterday’s Loughborough International, the 27-year-old delivered a winning mark of 76.93metres to beat Chris Black’s 32-year-old record.
And Dry is hoping it is broken again, sooner rather than later.
‘I didn’t think my throw was going that far,’ he said. ‘I throw here every day but, even knowing all the lines, it felt good and I gave it some stick.
‘I didn’t know it would be almost 77 metres. Normally, when I feel I’ve given it that much, it means I’ve not thrown too well — but it felt easy.’
His journey here has been anything but. Despite picking up Lottery funding last winter, Dry spends his days teaching sport to primary school kids to finance his dreams.
It means he has been stuck at home while his rival, England’s Nick Miller — who finished second here — has been sunning himself in California working out with their shared coach Tore Gustafsson.
Instead, it was former record-holder Black who stepped in to keep his fellow Scot on track and eventually propel him to a throw that is the fifth best by a Brit.
‘It’s unbelievable,’ said Dry, who also earned the qualifying mark for this summer’s World Championships in Beijing.
‘It has been a crazy couple of years. Things haven’t really gone right and I haven’t seen much of my coach (Gustafsson).
‘Chris Black has been helping me a lot and it has been good to get his appraisal.
‘ I’ve l ost some weight but I’m stronger. I believed I could break the record but it helped that Nick threw so far because it gave me the drive.’
With 3,000m winner Laura Whittle also representing Loughborough, Emily Dudgeon picked up Team Scotland’s only victory after leading home Glasgow-based hopeful Mhairi Hendry in the 800m as the Scots finished fourth in the overall points standings.
Sprint hope Cameron Tindle, who is just 16, lowered his 200m mark to 20:94 and finished third to qualify for this summer’s World Youth Championships, finishing just behind Londoner CJ Ujah, who did the double after winning the 100m. Perth prospect Ben Greenwood, also 16, moved i nto second place in the world youth rankings with an 800m time of 1:50.44 — and broke the Scottish Under-17 record.
In only her second event since returning to competition, Jessica Ennis-Hill came third in the long jump, leaping to 6.16m with her second attempt, a good way short of her 6.51 personal best.
She was sixth in the javelin, her weakest of the heptathlon’s disciplines.
JAx THoIrS broke his own Scottish pole vault record with a 5.65m jump at a meeting in Los Angeles.