Athletics: Joshua’s on the Hill climb

Oct 11 2007 by David Williams, Merthyr Express

AN ASPIRING javelin thrower has been rubbing shoulders with one of the sport’s British legends, writes DAVID WILLIAMS.

Joshua Williams, aged 16, from Penydarren, ranked third best in the UK in his age group, met up with World and European Championship medallist Mick Hill, now UK Athletics Talent Development Manager, as part of a national squad’s training session at the National Indoor Athletics Centre in Cardiff.

Along with 60 other athletes and 40 coaches from across the country, Joshua also met former Great Britain 400m runner Jared Deacon, a European 4x400m gold medal winner who helped put the youngsters through their paces.

Joshua, a member of Aberdare Valley Athletic Club, was selected due to his position in the ranking system “Power of 10”, which is gearing up athletes for the 2012 Olympics in London. The teenager is 16th in Wales’ senior rankings and 33rd in Britain with a personal best of 49.87m.

Coach John Davies has been very pleased with the progress made by the former Cyfarthfa High School pupil. Joshua, a student at Merthyr College, has improved 11m on last year’s best throw.

This has been a hugely productive year for the youngster, who claimed a bronze at the Welsh Junior Championships in Swansea and at the Welsh Schools Championships in Brecon.

He bettered that with gold in the South Wales Regional Championships in May and repeated that by winning the Wales Regional Championships in Deeside in August.

Joshua also entered the Welsh Senior Championships and came back with a personal best of 42.17m using the heavier 800g javelin and an eighth-placed finish. Success also came to his club as they won seven out of eight league competitions.

The results have come on the back of tough training sessions.

Joshua travels on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays to train at his winter base in Swansea, and on Sundays to Cefn Hengoed High School, also in Swansea, for specialised skipping and plyometric work.

Thursday nights in Neath, added to weight training in Rhydycar Leisure Centre and college work, means Joshua is pushing hard for success in his sport.

He has also been selected for South Wales regional squad training over the autumn and winter weekends, which will be followed up by Wednesday nights in UWIC for regular squad evening sessions.

Matt Newman, chief executive of Welsh Athletics, said: “The national squad provides an important function in the development of talented athletes.

“We’re very pleased to be able to bring in Mick and Jared. It demonstrates our close working relationship with UK Athletics and our athlete-centred approach, where we aim to expose our squads to a high-performance environment.”