Dry begins push for Delhi medal

Mark looks odds-on to make Scotland's Commonwealth Games team

Few people would be able to name the Scottish hammer-throwing champion, but by next summer Mark Dry may be one of the country's more recognisable sporting stars.

Dry is a medal prospect for Scotland at next year's Commonwealth Games in Delhi, but before that he hopes to make his mark at the European Championships.

A guest of BBC Radio Scotland's Sports Weekly programme, Dry comes across as an assured character, getting to grips with the weight of expectation being heaped upon his broad shoulders.

"It's a big step up for me, it's all coming quite fast," said the 21-year-old from Burghead, near Elgin.

"It's going to be a big step up on to the world stage, but it's what I want to do.

"I'd like to try to make it to the Europeans in Barcelona next June and July. In hammer-throwing terms, the Europeans is your World Championships."

Dry became the first Scot in 25 years to throw more than 70 metres in the hammer when he won the British Athletics league match at Hendon.

His distance of 70m 81cm is the third best in the Commonwealth so there is every chance that if he can continue to improve he may return from India with a medal.

Coached by Chris Black, the former Olympian who holds the Scottish record (Black's finest throw was 73.18m at the Montreal Olympics in 1976), Dry has made significant strides in recent years.

"You've got to keep looking to progress. We (he and Black) are forever trying different things.

"Eighteen months ago my personal best was 57.97m. At the end of last season I finished on 65.43m after training with Chris for a year, and this season I have upped that to 70.81m.

"Hopefully I can put that up again.

"It's been a good improvement over the last 18 months. I never had any good bits and pieces to go on my sporting CV but this year has been better."

Both Dry's parents are pilots and in his early childhood he lived in south-west England and Guernsey before settling on the Morayshire coast.

With an initial interest in rugby, he joined the Army Cadets and took up the javelin.

He then joined Elgin Athletics Club, where he began to learn the art of hammer-throwing because the club did not have any equipment for him to practise his preferred sport.

If your technique is not up to it, you can't throw that far Scottish champion Mark Dry

Even now, Dry struggles to find suitable training facilities - he trains on a concrete strip in Stonehouse - but he is not prepared to let this hinder his ambitions, pointing to similar disadvantages experienced by competitors.

"I can still train at the place I go to and still produce the goods. It's different from competition conditions," said Dry, who combines training with working in the stores at Glasgow's Royal Infirmary and moonlighting as a nightclub doorman.

He added: "Obviously it would be better for me if I could train in a specific cage in a specific circle with the right surface.

"But if I can turn, I can turn, I can work on what I'm doing and that's more important than training in a pristine place."

At 108kg and standing 6ft tall, Dry has a formidable build but is smaller than many of his rivals. Again, he refuses to look upon this as a disadvantage.

"The world record holder was about 15-and-a-half stone when he broke the record. It's not necessarily a short-cut, being big and strong, to throw," Dry added.

"If your technique is not up to it, you can't throw that far."

Having represented Great Britain for the first time at the European Under-23s Championship in Lithuania recently, Dry must hit the mark next year to guarantee his Scotland place for Delhi.

He said: "I need to qualify once during the year of the competition. If I throw over 66m again that should be things sorted. I just need to produce it next year."