Vault Manchester, the annual meeting of UK Pole Vaulters took
place on Saturday 14th January 2012 in Manchester for
the seventh year in a row with over 80 vaulters. This is a very
popular event , supported by UKA and Manchester City Council and is
an opportunity for young vaulters to mix and compete with many of
the UK's elite pole vaulters and this year was no exception with
last year's UK indoor champion Max Eaves topping
the bill.
There were thirteen athletes from Sale Harriers taking part,
with Matt Cullen finishing 7th in the
Elite Men (4m73) and Abi Haywood 6th in the Elite
women (3m73). Matt and Abi have competed in all but one of the
seven Vault Manchester competitions since they started in 2006.
Notable results came from David Campbell who
won the U17M competition when he jumped a new PB of 3.83 (he went
one better yesterday at the Northern Championships with another
PB), Emma Andersson started her season with a new
PB of 3.43 and Zac Harrop also PB'd with 2.73
whilst winning Silver in the U15B. Other Sale athletes taking part
included Sale Harriers stalwart Jack Frost's grandson James
Frost who jumped 2m 33 in his first competition. Other
athletes to jump were: Jordan Bezzina (2m
43),Mathew Ogden (2m43), Lewis
Hannan (2m43) winning Bronze in the U15B, Tim
Jolly (3m53), Jacob Sutcliffe (3m63),
Samara Mohtasham (2m73) and sister
Serena (2m03)
Organiser Andy Byres, whose daughter
Katie Byres jumped very well again with 4m 33 and
third place on Saturday night in France, said:
"Once again Vault Manchester produced a great
environment for vaulters of all levels. The music and fantastic
atmosphere provided a great place for all the vaulters to start
their season. It was terrific to see two national records, as a
number of elite athletes work towards the the Olympics and World
Junior Championships. The many personal bests seen in the junior
age groups show a bright future ahead for the event and in
particular for Sale Harriers having 13 vaulters
competing
To view You Tube videos made by vault coaches Matt Cullen and
Julien Rafelli click on the following links. http://www.youtube.com/user/madmancmatt1?feature=mhee#p/u
and
http://www.youtube.com/user/julien0520?blend=1&ob=video-mustangbase