There were some really fine performances from a number of local athletes at the Manchester Indoor Open Meeting held earlier this month at Sportcity.
Athletes from three Isle of Man clubs competed at the meeting on February 2, delivering strong performances across multiple events.
Lara Smith (Manx Harriers) put on a standout display, breaking the Manx record for the women’s U17 pole vault three times and setting two new personal bests.
Competing with a borrowed pole, she cleared 2.82 metres at the Vaults Manchester event on the Saturday before improving to 2.91m indoors the following day.
Her achievements set a new IOM record and placed her 13th in the UK and 4th in the North West in her age group.
Manx Athletes
Zac Woodward (Northern AC) also impressed at the Vaults event.
Although he was slightly disappointed not to clear his personal best on the Saturday, he rebounded strongly on Sunday, improving his personal best from 2.93 metres to 3.01m before going on to clear 3.11m.
A near miss at 3.21m suggests that further technical improvements could see him reach even greater heights. He currently ranks 25th in the UK and 4th in the North West in the U17 Men’s age group.
Rory Turner (Western AC) continued to show resilience in his return from his arm injury, maintaining focus on his training.
He managed to knock 0.56 seconds off his personal best in the 200 metres, a positive step forward as he builds strength through winter conditioning.
He also completed in the pole vault, gaining valuable advice from vault coaches which will aid his progress.
Manchester Indoor Open
Meanwhile Troy Turner (Western AC) made his Under 17 debut in the long jump, adapting well to the higher competition level and gaining valuable experience for the season ahead.
At the same meeting, Petra Atchison reports that Manx Harriers athletes Meghan Pilley, Daniel Stewart-Clague and Max Moore-Lees were all in fine form in the sprints.
In the 200 metres, Daniel set a time of 23.10 seconds (an indoor pb), Max 24.19 sec and Meghan 25.62 sec.
In the 60 metres, Daniel, Max and Meghan clocked 7.16, 7.34 and 7.69 seconds respectively. Meghan’s time was another pb.
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