The 2026 PDC UK Q-School field is stacked to the rafters – a battlefield strewn with former professionals, decorated campaigners and amateur assassins all sharpening their tungsten for one last charge at the promised land. Big names. Louder names. Familiar names.
And then there is one that doesn’t shout – but absolutely deserves to be heard. Step forward AJ Urmston-Toft. If he were a footballer, we’d be singing ‘he’s one of our own’ from the terraces. A man better known to many as the voice, the pen, the presence behind the scenes at major events. To his colleagues, he is “the hardest working man in darts”. To himself, however, he is something far simpler – a player chasing a dream that refuses to quit.
For this week, the microphone is set aside. The notebook closed. The media accreditation swapped for tungsten and resolve. AJ arrives at Milton Keynes not as an observer, but as a participant – hunting the most elusive prize in the sport: a PDC Tour Card.
There was a time when this dream burned brightly. Years ago, Urmston-Toft’s progress hinted at something tangible as he travelled Europe collecting valuable WDF points, momentum building with every oche he toed. Then life intervened – brutally. A serious road traffic accident brought everything screeching to a halt, freezing a career just as it began to stir.
Since then, the climb back has been long. Gruelling. Often thankless. The levels once reached have been difficult to rediscover, but a new coach offered encouragement and a different approach to the pursuit of that pinnacle. And fittingly, the word pinnacle now threads its way through the next chapter.
Away from the oche, AJ is now a store manager of the thriving Pinnacle Darts shop in Ossett, West Yorkshire – a world away from the career security of his former life as an auditor. Yet nothing about his current existence is steady or safe.
Alongside running the shop, he helps lead a new darts academy there, part of a fresh coaching setup aimed at developing tomorrow’s talent. And when he isn’t doing that? He’s on the road. Covering events. Filing copy. Conducting interviews. Creating content. Living darts.
The schedule alone would break most. Covering the PDC World Championship up to Christmas Eve. Shop duties and at least a little family time before goping straight down to Portsmouth for the climax of the ADC Global Championship. Then north again, barely pausing for breath, before walking into the Q-School arena in Milton Keynes to face one of the toughest fields imaginable. Ideal preparation? Hardly. Commitment? Undeniable.
On day one, the result didn’t fall his way. Despite posting a healthy average – more than respectable in that cauldron – AJ exited at the first hurdle. Disappointment, yes. But this is Q-School. It rarely offers fairy-tales without resistance.
The crucial detail? There are two more days. Two more chances. Two more opportunities to walk back into that arena sharper, fresher and armed with the belief that simply being there is an achievement forged through resilience.
This may not be the loudest story of Q-School 2026. It may not dominate headlines. But it is one of the most human. And in a week defined by pressure, sacrifice and unrelenting ambition, AJ Urmston-Toft absolutely deserves his moment in the spotlight – tungsten in hand, dream intact, still daring to chase it.
—–ENDS—–
Images: AJ Urmston-Toft
AJ is supported by: Pinnacle Darts, L Style, VIS Apparel, Eagle Darts and Darts World
