By his own admission, Mark Dry is not a good quitter.
His career, which has seen him represent Great Britain at the Olympics, World Championships, and European Championships, has been littered with injury and, more recently, a heavy dose of controversy.
Two hip reconstructions, a hip replacement, and a 28-month ban from competition for misleading anti-doping investigators has not kept the Burghead thrower down.
Next month, he will represent Scotland at his fourth Commonwealth Games, having collected medals at the previous two.
Based in Leicestershire near his training base in Loughborough, Dry, now 34, has pushed himself far beyond his physical limits – and not through training.
Desperate to fight a UK Anti-Doping ban which arose from him misleading officials about his whereabouts when testers came knocking at his door, Dry worked 37 weeks straight to pay legal bills to fight his case.
Despite proving he hadn’t cheated, Dry was handed a severe punishment based on a technicality – regardless of where Dry was when he missed the test, had he not contacted UKAD to tell them he had misled them, the past four years could have been very different.
Even in the aftermath of the UK Athletics Championships in Manchester last month, Dry was travelling up and down the country working on the tools at various major events.
He racked up the miles flitting between London, Derby, Cardiff, and Birmingham, rigging and derigging scaffolding to keep the money coming in before taking time off to prepare for Birmingham.
It’s the type of graft Dry has become accustomed to – the mark of an athlete who simply will not lie down. Even during the especially challenging years when Dry was unable to compete and working constantly to fight his case with UKAD, he never doubted his ability to come back.
He said: “I knew I had it in me. I understood why I should have quit. It’s definitely been hard and I’ve definitely thought about quitting. But (perseverance) is my number one strength.
Name: Mark Dry
D.O.B: 11/10/87
Home town: Burghead
Previous CG experience: 2010, 2014, 2018
Event(s): Hammer
“I’ve had a hip replacement, and had two hip reconstructions before that. Nobody thought I would get through any of them. I’ve had to come back and learn to walk again three times to get back to competition, let alone international competition. Three times I’ve managed to make it back to semi-world class elite level.
“I’ve had plenty of practice starting again from scratch and it’s been extremely tough. But I know from all the other stuff I’ve come back from, I knew this was going to be the hardest one.”
Even when Team Scotland’s selection was announced, Dry was working in Cardiff and was unable to thank people for their messages of congratulation which kept his phone buzzing for hours.
Having thrown over 70 metres three times already this season, and having set aside a fortnight to prepare for Birmingham, Dry knows anything can happen when he steps into the cage. Regardless of the outcome, Dry explained when the final 7.26kg ball of metal smacks the infield next month, he will exit the Commonwealth stadium clear of conscience.
“Obviously I would like to come away with another medal, but I’m in a strong position. I’ve got a lot of experience and I can’t lose. I don’t need a medal here for this to be successful.
“This is about resilience and finishing on my own terms, and enjoying being an athlete again. I’ve had years of pressure chasing standards and it made a portion of my career less enjoyable. The dream scenario is having a great championships and representing Scotland to the best of my ability.
“I’m going to have to pull out a season’s best. I’m going to have to look for something special. It’s not as easy as gritting your teeth and going nuts in the last round and finding four metres out of nowhere.”
It may have been a gruelling, perhaps even hellish, four years, but if nothing else, it has changed Dry’s perspective and cemented his status as a fighter. He may be chasing a third Commonwealth Games medal, but whatever happens, he is not going to leave the UK’s Second City with a grain of disappointment.
“In the past, some of these championships mean too much and sometimes it becomes a bad memory if you didn’t achieve what you wanted to achieve. I think it’s always good to look back and think that no matter what happens, these are times where I got to go out with my mates and have a really tough competition
“May the best man win – it’s good to cherish these moments and remember them.”
