Of all the throwing events the javelin throw seems to have been the strongest, over the years, as far as Sussex is concerned particularly at English Schools level.
In the fifties/sixties John Kitching (Achilles) held the Sussex record with 74.56m with the old style javelin and represented Great Britain and he also held the high jump record with 1.93m though he later shared that with Brighton & Hove’s Pat Mackenzie.
Up at Crawley Tom Lintern was coaching Jean Randall from Horsham who made three trips to the English Schools and was 6th in 1968, and she was to set a Sussex Record.
He continued to coach her as Jean Lintern, when they married and she achieved international recognition. She continued to hold the County record at 51.56m into this Century until the specification was changed.
Since 1998 Bob Willows, at Brighton has had a remarkable series of successes at English Schools with no less than four golds for his athletes, Edan Cole and Elizabeth Korczak winning three titles as well as gaining several silver and bronze medals.
Twenty years before that Karen Shackel (nee Miller) took the Under 15 crown, two years after Crawley club mate Jackie Brown’s title in 1976.
Karen Miller was born in 1964, went to Hazelwick School at Crawley and she joined the Crawley Athletic Club in the summer of 1976 as a sprinter. The following year she was persuaded to try throwing the javelin and showed remarkable talent.
In 1977, her first year of javelin throwing, she won her first Sussex javelin title and that became a habit for the next seventeen years she won the title , as she moved through the age groups, fourteen times. As well as a thrower she was competing in the sprints frequently for her team as well as becoming a regular member of the sprint relay team.
“Under the guidance of the Crawley coach Tom Lintern I won the English Schools, National and Southern titles and finished top of the national rankings in 1978. I was selected for the Sussex team & went to 5 English Schools Championships but missed getting an international Schools vest as I placed fourth that year.
“I was regularly selected to represent Sussex and Southern teams in Inter-county and Inter-Area matches and in my senior years I was coached by Dave Cobb, the Southern Javelin coach. In 1990 I won the Southern Counties Senior Women’s title”
Karen was to become one of just three Sussex throwers who broke the 50 metre mark in the javelin with 600g javelin in 1987 when she threw 50.12m. This throw earnt her sixth place in the National Championship which was dominated by the “Greats” of British throwing, former Olympic champion Tessa Sanderson and Fatima Whitbread.
“It was always an amazing experience competing against elite athletes and left me with great memories”.
When the specification for the javelin was changed in 1999 Karen was still third on the Sussex “All-time Lists” with 50.12m behind club mate and international Jean Lintern on 51.56m and Worthing’s Caroline Hatton on 50.48m.
Karen married Dean in 1994 and semi-retired to raise a family producing a boy and a girl.
“I was a loyal club athlete and competed for the club at every opportunity until I semi-retired in 1995 and had a break to start a family in 1996. Both my children Jason & Stephanie were very keen to try athletics so I returned in 2006 when Jason was 10.”
“All athletic club always needs volunteers and I began to help in the tuck shop at open meetings. The following year I took over organising the 5 open meetings that the club put on each year & at the same time I became Club treasurer and sat on the committee, a position which I still hold today.
"In 2013 Crawley AC joined the Southern Athletics league and I became the Women’s Team manager for 2 years which was a completely different role but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
"In 2015 it was decided the club would purchase their own photo finish & electronic timing system together with Sussex athletics. At the time I was a IT Technician at a local school so my IT experience was put to good use and I am now involved in setting up the system for all club & county competitions at K2, I also became a qualified official in electronic timing & photo finish. We are very fortunate at Crawley to have a great photo finish team who all give up many hours each year to run the system and provide a great service to the athletes.
"I was still active on the field as a master’s athlete, competing for Crawley AC in the Southern Athletics leagues & Women’s British league teams which was always a real honour. In 2013 I won the British Masters title in a very wet & windy Birmingham.
"My last competition was in 2015 in Glasgow when I competed for the women’s team in the British League. A compound fracture to my throwing wrist and 2 operations meant that any return to throwing is ruled out but who knows what the future will bring, a change of event? maybe!!
“Athletics is a great sport, there is an event for everyone and the people you meet are amazing. Athletics gives young athletes excellent life skills, resilience, discipline, dedication, loyalty & you learn to be organised. The social benefits are huge, making long standing friends. For these reasons I was extremely proud that my children wanted to get involved in some way and both were successful at their chosen events.
“Jason showed promise as a javelin thrower but he developed elbow problems while he was in the young age groups. While Stephanie was an all-rounder, went to England Schools as a javelin thrower and won Sussex titles in five different events between 2012 and 2016. She did however take up rugby when she moved to University
“As a young athlete I had very little understanding of how difficult it is to put on a competition, especially recruiting the large number of volunteers you need to run the individual events. I fully understand that now and I appreciate all the support each coach, official & volunteer gives the sport to keep it going, especially in these difficult times.
"If the sport is to continue and serve future generations then we still need more help, so any ex athletes looking to give something back to the sport you would be warmly welcomed”.
We could well do with more former athletes, let alone champions, like Karen.