Athlete Mhairi Porterfield has heaped praise on her daughter Meghan for overcoming a disappointing 2019 season to break three under-15 shot-put records.
Teen starlet Meghan, 14, has taken medals in her last few events, and Mhairi hopes it stands her in good stead… if the season is allowed to go ahead due to the coronavirus threat.
Mhairi, herself an accomplished hammer thrower, said: “Meghan has had a brilliant indoor season.
“She broke the under-15 record three times, won the Scottish Under-15 Championships, was second in the Under-16, won the English Under-15s and the Scottish Schools’ Under-16 Championships.
“She also got the Championships’ best performances at Scottish Schools’ and the Scottish Under-15 Championships.
“I’m extremely proud of what she has achieved, particularly because her last indoor season was not great, it really didn’t go well, so to see her bounce back and compete so well is brilliant. It has been great to watch.
“Meghan is a true competitor. At the Under-17 Championships she was up against an English girl and was winning right up until the last round. The English girl pulled out an enormous throw, so Meghan produced a personal best. She didn’t win, but it showed that she knows how to compete – she certainly goes all-out.”
Megan won two awards at the Scottish Schools’ Championships – the Jack Sutherland Trophy for shot put performance and another for Best Female Performance at the Championship.
Everything is up in the air at the moment due to the global pandemic, but Mhairi hopes things settle down and Meghan can concentrate on setting distances for the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad and Tobago in 2021.
“This will be her last season at under-15, if it goes ahead,” said Mhairi.
“We were supposed to be going to the first event up in Inverness on Easter weekend but everything in April has been cancelled because of coronavirus.
“We were talking about it and thinking about the Commonwealth Youth Games, but we don’t know what the qualifying distance is yet.
“Hopefully by the time that’s posted she will be within reach. The last ones were in the Bahamas and she’s not far off what those distances were, so if they’re similar she should be okay, and that would be fantastic for her.”
And the Porterfields are always keeping each other on their toes. Mhairi added: “We are very competitive family, even if it’s things like computer games on the Wii or whatever.
“My husband Graham used to throw as well, but he took part in a Strongman competition last year and hurt his elbow, so might not be able to compete any more.”
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