Terry McHugh hurled his way into the world record books at Santry this afternoon when he won the Irish javelin championship for the nineteenth consecutive time.
No athlete anywhere in the world has ever amassed such a high total of successive domestic championships.
It did not take one of his best throws for the Celbridge man to claim the record - today’s longest length was 71 metres and 56 centimetres - but that did not detract from the joy of the man who first became this country’s best javelin-thrower way back in 1984, when aged just 20.
What did dampen the celebrations somewhat, however, was that the soon-to-be 39 year-old sustained a knee injury which may prevent him from taking part in next month’s European Championships in Munich.