Maggie Okul
Athlete Profile
Maggie Okul is 18 years old and she has been with the Kingston upon Hull Athletic Club since 2012, turning up at the Costello Stadium one Tuesday evening in late May of that year and hoping to get a start with one of the training groups. At that time Maggie saw a future for herself as a shot putter and maybe a sprinter. Her only experience of athletics had been at local school competitions. The first people she met were the hammer coaches, Dave and Diane Smith who suggested that she try a few throws with them and see what she thought. Maggie was unsure but she stayed for the session and kept going back to future training nights. She made quick progress and soon became hooked, which resulted in her joining the training group and becoming a member of the country’s leading group of hammer throwers, the ‘Hull Hammer Squad’. She made her club debut in the under 15 category, at the 2012 Kingston summer open meeting, throwing the hammer, javelin and shot, and a second outing came shortly afterwards at the Grimsby open, which was the last event of the 2012 track & field season. She then began her first autumn and winter of strength and conditioning and throws training.
2013 saw Maggie make the move up to the under17 age group and she made her league debut for Kingston in April of that year at Middlesbrough in a UK Youth Development League match. Just a week later she was on the bus with the clubs Senior League team for a fixture in Leigh. She won the hammer competition at both of these meetings. Her first championship meeting came in May at the County Championships, where she picked up the gold medal in both the hammer and the javelin competitions. Two weeks later she repeated the feat at the Humberside Schools Championships, with two more gold medals in the hammer and javelin.
On the 23rd of June she travelled over the Pennines to Sport City Stadium in Manchester for the Northern under 20’s Championships, where she would be competing out of her age group against athletes up to four years older than herself. Maggie broke her PB in the hammer final and took the gold medal at her first major championship meeting, she was now the new champion of Northern England. She won County selection for July’s English Schools Championships in Birmingham, the biggest competition in the country, where she finished in 4th place. A further County call up came for the Northern Inter Counties Championships, where she won the hammer competition. Her International debut soon followed when she was selected to represent Northern England in the Welsh International meeting in Cardiff.
The month of August took her to the Wavertree Stadium in Liverpool for the Northern under 17’s championships, where she picked up another gold medal and she was now a double Northern Champion, at both under 17 and under 20. A third County call up came for the National Inter Counties meeting in Bedford, and a week later she returned to Bedford for the England National Championships, finishing 6th in the hammer final. She was selected to represent Northern England in the UK School Games at The Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield where she won the bronze medal, in what was the last athletics event ever held at the Don Valley.
Throughout the 2013 track & Field season Maggie competed for the club in every league match in the UK Youth Development League and every one of the senior teams fixtures in North Division one.
It was an unbelievable first season, winning three major championship medals and gaining international experience, representing Northern England twice and her county three times. She started the season as an unknown and finished it ranked number 7 in the UK.
The 2014 track & field season saw her making further progress on her athletics journey, she was gaining in confidence with each competition and improving steadily all the time. It was a hugely successful season which saw her once again represent Northern England at Cardiff’s Welsh International meeting and she donned the vest for the North again at the UK School Games in Manchester. At June’s Northern under 20’s Championships at Sport City she successfully defended her title, and twice broke her PB in the final. At Wigan in Augusts Northern under17 Championships she not only defended her title but set a new Championship best performance. County selection was gained for the Northern inter Counties and also the National Inter Counties Championships. A third County call came for the English Schools Championships where for the second year she had to settle for a 4th place finish.
At the National Championships in Bedford’s International Stadium she came through the qualifying pools, and a big new PB in the final saw her bring the bronze medal back to Costello. In the Humberside Championships she set a new championship best performance and successfully defended her title, for good measure she also won the javelin title for the second year in succession, and took the silver medal in the shot competition. The Humberside Schools Championships saw Maggie make yet another successful defence of one of her titles, taking the hammer gold medal once again.
She again competed in every one of Kingston’s youth and senior league matches for the second successive year, and in October of 2014 she had one of her proudest and most memorable moments when she picked up one of the ‘Hull Daily Mail’s’ Sporting Champions awards.
Maggie finished the 2014 track & field season with a ranking of No. 5 UK.
The 2015 track & field season brought a move up to the under 20’s age category, and she opened the new season at the Liverpool Harriers throws and jumps meeting at the Wavertree stadium on the 11th of April, where she won the hammer competition and set a new PB in the process. At the end of the month, it was down the M1 for the Loughborough Open meeting, which drew a top quality field of hammer throwers, which saw Maggie pick up another victory in the under 20’s competition. In May she entered her first East Riding Schools Championship meeting, where she collected another title, and another gold medal and also set another new PB. She won her third consecutive title at the County Championships, where she also threw another new PB.
On the 13th of June she picked up her third consecutive gold medal at the Humberside Schools Championships, and the following day she was on the other side of the Pennines for the Northern Championships, where she won her third consecutive under 20 hammer title. With this victory she now held five Northern gold medals, three at under 20 and two at under 17, and proudly boasted an unbeaten record at those championships. The following week she was down south at Bedford for the National championships, held in atrocious conditions for all the throwers, with strong gusting winds and heavy rain. Maggie had to settle for a 4th place finish.
July brought County selection for the English Schools Championships in Gateshead and the day of the final did not get off to a good start, when the officials vetoed her hammer at the check and weigh in and she had to compete with one of the Gateshead clubs pool hammers. Maggie showed her strength of character and composed herself for the battle to come against her friend and great rival Becky Keating of Shaftesbury Barnet. The two girls dominated the competition from first throw to the last, with Becky taking the gold and Maggie the silver medal, she was disappointed not to win but was delighted with her silver. These championships are the pinnacle of youth athletics in this country and every young athlete dreams of winning an English Schools medal.
Next stop on her campaign was the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, the headquarters of England Athletics, for the British jumps and throws festival where she was victorious in the under 20 hammer competition. Cardiff was her next destination to represent Northern England again in the Welsh International meeting. Maggie took the silver medal and Becky who was representing Southern England took the bronze. She received another call to represent her County at the National Inter Counties Championships at Bedford.
Once again she competed in every league match throughout the season for both the youth team and the senior team, and she won every hammer competition in every league match for both of the teams.
At the end of the 2015 track & field season Maggie had achieved the No. 2 ranking in the UK.
These are Maggie’s hopes and ambitions for the 2016 track & field season.
“I hope to get my PB up to 60 metres”
“I would love to go to the World Juniors”
“Win gold at English Schools, but if I get selected for the World’s I can’t go because the two competitions clash.
“I want to defend all of my titles”
