An improved grip and technique helped Alice Mourao set a new Under-17 women’s club record in the discus with a throw of 24.76 metres.

The 15-year-old achieved the benchmark as she took first place in the Scottish National Athletics League meeting on June 18.

Alice’s throw was almost five metres further than her U15 club record of 19.86m set in August last year, also at Grangemouth.

And she had extra reason to celebrate as the track and field all-rounder took 3rd place in the 3,000m in a time of 11mins 5.47secs.

Alice’s mum Kira credited coach George Key for gaining the extra metres in the discus. She said: “Alice has learned to do a spin throw and been practising before and after training. It’s difficult to practise safely at Saughton as we have no throwing cage.

“George worked with her to get her grip correct the week before the SNAL competition and it made a huge difference. I have sat through several throws competitions where she was all over the place and suddenly at SNAL she had six consistent throws around or more than 20m.

“She still sees herself very much a distance runner, but discus is the cherry on the cake. She had to go straight from the 3,000m to the discus – I think she missed her practice throw – so there was a lot of joking about her unusual 3,000m warm-up. She thinks it may have helped her by calming her nerves!”

Alice added: “I’m very happy about managing to improve my throws by so much, and it’s definitely been George helping me with my technique and more consistent practice.

“I really enjoyed the day at Grangemouth because they are both chilled events and there’s a very nice atmosphere in both. It’s a little tough to prepare for both events at the same time but just getting in a few minutes of technique after running works very well.”

Photo credit: Gary Leek

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