Wragby athlete Gillespie sets two new Irish Masters throwing records
Wragby throwing star Jim Gillespie, 63, set two new Irish records at the Athletics Norfolk Heavy Throws competition in King's Lynn.
An international thrower for Ireland and a European and World medallist in 2017 and 2018 in the hammer, he now compete on the Masters circuit in the 60-64 years age group.
At King's Lynn he first set a new Masters record in the the Heavy Throws Triathlon and then a second one in the Heavy Throws Quadrathlon.
In these events you throw an implement, the distance is measured and you are awarded points from a scoring table. The points are added up and the person with the most points wins.
“The first event was the Shot Putt where I threw 8.76m, which was just short of my season's best, so a good start,” he said.
“Next up was the Discus, and here I threw over two metres further than I did when winning the county title back in May, throwing 27.91m.
“The final event of the Triathlon was the Hammer and I threw a distance of 26.93m, which gave me a points total of 1,369.
“This beat the previous record by 57 points.
“I then threw the Heavyweight Hammer in which I am ranked second on the Irish all-time list for this.
“My distance was 9.83m, giving me a final points score for the Quadrathlon of 1,774 points, easily erasing the previous best of 1,610 points.”
Gillespie competes for Peterborough and Nene Valley Athletics Club as Lincoln Wellington AC do not have a Masters team that competes in league events.