Harry Pugh
A great action shot of Harry competing in the 2010 Isle of Man Track & Field Championships at the NSC (photo kindly supplied by Harry)
28 year old Harry was first introduced to javelin throwing at the age of 14 when, as a young cricketer at Birkenhead School, he demonstrated a powerful throwing arm when fielding on the boundary. He was referred to Wirral Athletic Club, and within a year he was competing at county level and had won the Merseyside Championships for his age group. Harry then moved on to Liverpool Harriers, where he was taken under the wing of GB coach Dean Williams with immediate success. As an Under 17 he was one of the youngest competitors in the British Men‟s League, as well as competing in the Northern Men‟s League. He also received occasional coaching from John Trower (coach to Steve Backley) and the late Wilf Paish (Mick Hill‟s coach). He became North of England Champion and competed again for his county and for the North West of England in the Under 17 and Under 20 age groups, before heading to University. Football is another of Harry's talents, and he played for the University football team in his first year while athletics took a back seat. In his second year he took up the javelin again, and came third in the BUSA Championship (throwing a pb of 54.40m) and was invited to throw internationally in a competition between Scotland, Wales, England and a Great Britain select team. Unfortunately he was unable to take up his selection as he suffered a serious elbow injury which put paid to his javelin throwing for several years. In the meantime he went back to football, and for four years played professionally for Northwich Victoria, Southport and Tranmere Rovers. In 2007 Harry moved to the Isle of Man to live, as his mother was Manx born and her family still live on the island. In 2010, having realised that his competitive instinct was still there and with his elbow