GREGG School pupil Serena Vincent and Southampton AC duo Josh Douglas and Anna Merritt excelled at the weekend’s ‘throws spectacular’ staged at Portsmouth’s Mountbatten Centre.

Entrants from Liverpool to London, Blackburn to Brighton gave a master class in their respective disciplines in the seven-hour Shot And Hammer Festival which saw over 20 personal bests broken.

Southampton duo Douglas and Merritt won sponsorship awards for their performances in the shot put and hammer respectively.

Under-15 boy Douglas summoned up a pb of 13.37 metres, while Merritt – younger sister of budding international star Sophie – threw 43.28 to place 19th in the 2016 UK under-15 girls’ rankings, not bad as she has another full season to go in that age-group.

A top group of coaches assembled at Portsmouth - including former British shot put champion and still UK record holder Judy Oakes, Dave Callaway from Southampton AC and Bronwin Carter of Portsmouth AC, now a British weightlifting champion – to assist in free coaching sessions and workshops.

And they cannot fail to have been impressed by the standard of shot putting on show with records smashed and 15 pbs recorded in the space of three hours.

Hampshire is currently excelling in the shot discipline and Portsmouth AC have their share of stars.

Gaia Osborne, ranked No2 in the UK at under-17 level, pulled off a one-centimetre pb with a throw of 15 metres exactly, while under-15 boy Kameron Duxbury, sitting third in the UK, threw a superb 14.56.

But yet again the star of the show was Burseldon-based Vincent who reigns supreme at the top of the UK rankings in the under-15 girls’ shot.

She smashed her pb with a huge throw of 13.77 to take her 80 centimetres clear of her nearest UK rival in 2016.

It was the second biggest 3kg throw of all time in that age-group and put the icing on the cake of a remarkable season that has brought her an astonishing 13 national and regional titles.

With entries already taken for next year’s event, it looks like Hampshire may well be the destination of choice for the end-of-season throwers finale in 2017.