Tori Buckley is one of those people who can turn their hand to just about any sport. So when it comes to athletics, combined events is the obvious choice for her, and last Saturday she showed just how good she can be when she competed at the Tynedale Junior Open Pentathlon at Hexham. Here’s how Tori’s day panned out…..
First up the Long Jump, an event that Tori has enjoyed in the past , but like most athletes, she has missed the competitve element of late. However, she produced an excellent result here with a best of 4.08m, smashing her previous PB by 21cm!
Second event, the 75m Hurdles. Like many athletes, it’s not Tori’s favourite discipline, but she’s been working hard on her technique during training and was hopeful of seeing this come to fruition. Which it did, in the form of another PB of 14.53s. Top hurdling Buckers!
Next, one of Tori’s favourites, the shot put. As a regular at the Valahalla training sessions, and virtual competitions, Tori’s strength and technique has improved hugely over the last year. This showed today with another increase in her PB, beating her old best by 40cm, with an incredible throw of 8.93m! Getting closer to that 9m mark!
Fourth event, the High Jump. I know Tori wasn’t happy with her result here today, but it was still a fantastic effort nonetheless. Her best jump was 1.23m, a little off her PB, but that just means it’s something to work on for next time – you can do it, Tori!
And the final event of the day, the 800m. Once again, Tori pulled another top performance out the bag resulting in another PB. She managed to knock a couple of seconds off her previous best with a time of 2:35.27 and finished 3rd out of the 19 taking part.
Overall an outstanding performance from an athlete who was a year younger than many competing today. Yes, Tori is still in her first year as an Under 15 athlete, yet she still managed to finish in 10th place overall; a fantastic result, and one that bodes very well for next year! At the end of the day, her overall points totted up to 2184, a AAA Grade 4 standard, and yet another PB!
An amazing result Tori, and one you should be very proud of. Keep training hard, keep smiling and we look forward to seeing you back here again next year! Nearly forgot…..big thanks to Tori’s mum, Gill for the photos 🙂