Banbury woman to represent Great Britain in shot put competition at European Masters Championships

Sharon Hutchings trains for the shot put competition at the European Masters Championships (Submitted photo)

Sharon Hutchings hopes to raise enough money to cover the costs of her transportation to Portugal to represent Great Britain at the European Masters championships in the shot put.

She has launched a GoFundMe fundraising web page to help cover the costs. She hopes to reach her £1,000 target before the competition later this month.

Sharon said: "I started a GoFundMe as I am meeting all the costs of competing myself. As you can appreciate, travel expenses, kit and entry fees are all very expensive."

Sharon Hutchings has launched a fundraiser to help cover the expenses to compete at the European Masters Championships (Submitted photo)

To help Sharon represent Great Britain in the European Masters you can contribute using the following web link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/representing-great-britain-at-european-masters

The European Masters Championships take place in Braga, Portugal from February 21-27 with the shot put event being held on February 24. She also plans to enter the World Masters Championships later this year in Finland.

It's not the first time Sharon will represent her country in a shot put competition.

Sharon said: "I used to compete regularly for the county which then was Berkshire and Newbury athletics club years ago in shot put. I was county champion from 1985-1995. I had a top ranking of 6th in Great Britain at 16 and appeared in the rankings for all those years. I also represented England when I was 21.

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"I then joined Midlands Masters AC and veterans AC, and went in for a competition in which I won and had a GB ranking of 14 for my age group.

"This really motivated me to train more and enter more competitions. I joined Oxford Athletics club recently, and now use their facilities to train. I recently threw a new personal best of 9m 12, which ranks me number two in GB."

Sharon, who works at Horton General Hospital an operating department practitioner, knows the importance of sport.

One of Sharon's friends, Rachel Adam, fully supports her quest to compete in the European Masters Championships.

Rachel, who works with Sharon at Horton General Hospital, said: "She worked on the front line during the pandemic, and she is an amazing lady. She proves you are never too old to make it in sport.

"It would be great if we could help her get to tournament."