Don Hale Blog

*Pictured above - Sharon Hutchings (*second from the left) with her Welsh team colleagues. Competing in Masters athletics by an extraordinary Welsh field athlete Sharon Hutchings... Special  report by WMAL webmaster Juliet Sidney with Sharon Hutchings. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025 www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk I have been competing abroad since 2022 at the European Indoor champs, Braga. Restarting after having my left knee replaced in 2021 due to osteoarthritis.  During this time of recovery, I had a lot of thinking time, and I’d always regretted giving up athletics aged 25 as good shot putter, discus thrower whose pb’s were 12.24m and 33.50m with a highest British ranking of 6 for shot put aged 16. I started collecting all my old newspaper cuttings, British ranking books, memories and reminiscing about how much I enjoyed throwing in those days. During this time a good friend Ann Thatcher who was my friend and colleague at Newbury AC years ago mentioned masters athletics th...

*Juliet Sidney (*back right) is pictured with her team mates in Poland. Medal winner and 'pocket rocket' Juliet Sidney talks about her recent success at the European championships at Torun in Poland. Report by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   Welsh Master sprinter and medal winner Juliet Sidney has recalled her exploits from the European Championships at Torun in Poland from last week. Juliet, who is perhaps better known as the ‘Pocket Rocket,’ competed in the 60m, the 200m and relay events. Although she was a little disappointed with her efforts in the earlier heats for the 60m race, Juliet deservedly made it to her first ever 200m indoor W55 final, and later ran as part of the bronze medal winning relay team. She later confirmed: “It was a  week of ups and downs. I finished with a bronze medal in the W50 4 x 200 relay, with thanks to my team  mates  Fiona Steele , Sarah Loades , and Stefano Dornbusch.  They all ran...