The London Pole Vault Academy - France Trip Diary

Wednesday 20th June, Day 1
As soon as we disembarked the Eurostar the adventure began as The 'Turners' took a wrong turn and headed for BELGIUM instead of France, blaming the confusion on the Japanese Sat Nav in their 4x4! Late afternoon we left the hotel and headed out to the track at Antony. The track is where the team of our very own Mariette Hilborne is based in France and we received a very warm welcome from our hosts.
Due to the high numbers of entrants it was decided to split the field in half and stage two competitions. On a balmy summers evening it was a pleasure to be at the track with the prospect of seeing some good pole vaulting. The first competition saw most of our team in action and everyone performed well and enjoyed the support of a good audience.
Performances included:
Teresa Eades 2.20m, Louisa Clarke 2.80m, George Turner 2.80m, Holly Turner 3.15m, Rachel Arnheim 3.45m, Mariette Hilborne 4.00m, Sam Brown 4.40m.
Highlight of the first competition was the vaulting of Mariette Hilborne who had been so instrumental in organising the itinerary for our trip. She cleared every height with ease up to and including equalling her best of 3.90m but she then took full advantage of the support from her French and British friends by sailing over a lifetime best of 4 metres! A feat that had taken her 16 years of pole vaulting to achieve and the joy and elation was clear for everyone to see. A true glimpse of what sport is all about and, it has to be said, a lesson in persistence. It was fabulous to see and share in Mariette's excitement. She oh so nearly surprised us again by coming oh so close to clearing 4.10m. A height that will not elude her for long...

In the second competition of the evening our own Sam Brown was competing alongside some French Olympic hopefuls. Entering the competition at 4.20m, Sam made that comfortably and then cleared 4.40m with consummate ease before missing narrowly at a Personal Best equalling 4.60m. The competition was won by Jerome Clevier who made 5.50m and had some good jumps at 5.62m.
From a coaching viewpoint, it was a very enjoyable and pleasing evening to be part of. Everyone in the Academy group had performed well in their first competition of the trip.

Thursday 21st June, Day 2
Started the day with a great drilling training session at the Antony track where the competition had been the night before. The weather was once again very warm and humid and building towards a storm say the locals. Training session done, we headed out to get lunch and enjoyed some good food at a shopping area close by. When we came out of the underground car park the weather had transformed form brilliant sunshine to torrential rain and then hail. The skies were black and ominous. It wasn't long before the roads were awash and there was a very different feel about the place. But almost as quickly as the rain and hail had appeared it cleared and the sun shone again.
In the evening we headed on the train into the centre of Paris and enjoyed a long ambling walk around some of the cities well known landmarks before stopping for a pleasant meal and a well deserved drink. The journey back to the hotel afterwards proved to be more eventful as we boarded a train that took us to a station that was some way from where we had left the cars. The promised bus service at the other end was bogus and proved to be nonexistent! The stranded party of English Athletes were rescued by some very kind locals who drove us from the station back to our cars. An act of kindness that most definitely restored our faith in human kindness.
All in all a very enjoyable and relaxing non competition day packed with a lot of activity and to be honest, any day that involves ice cream is a good one as far as I'm concerned!!

Friday 22nd June, Day 3
The day started with a visit to the local Boulangerie for breakfast. Then we headed out to Fontainebleau so that we we're in the general area of the competition before the traffic built up.
I have to say that the sight of three black 4x4's travelling in convoy with poles on the roof looked more like a Presidential cavalcade as we made our way through some lovely countryside approaching Fontainebleau, all that was missing was police outriders and men in dark suits wearing Ray Bans!
We had time to kill before the evening competition so spent a few hours wandering around the beautiful and impressive grounds of Fontainebleau Palace.

The competition started at 7.45pm and first to get us underway was Teresa Eades who once again made a very easy 2.20m before narrowly missing at 2.40m. Murray Hilborne had taken care of some business in Paris on the way from the UK and joined us for the competition. Despite the long day travelling he made 2.95m and was very close at a PB equalling 3.10m. Star of the competition was young George Turner who had tried numerous times recently to clear the English Schools qualifying height of 2.95m. It was apparent very early in the competition that George was in no mood to be denied again and seized his last opportunity to qualify with both hands as he sailed over 2.95m! Our French hosts were amazed that it was also a Lifetime Best. He had finally realised his goal of competing in the English Schools Championships next month. George's older sister, Holly was close to follow George in the competition and was just enjoying being exam free for the first time in weeks as she made 3.10m despite having some run up issues. Rachel Arnheim was the next British competitor to enter the competition and look very controlled as she cleared 3.25m and 3.40m before succumbing to 3.55m. The late start and the number of competitors in the competition saw it still going strong as the light was fading (even being only one day past Midsummer's Day couldn't hold back the onset of dusk).

Sam Brown entered the completion at 4.20m and sailed over to great applause despite the fact that we could barely see him in the dying light! Several French vaulters accompanied Sam as the bar moved to 4.40m and now acting on nocturnal instinct Sam duly lifted himself clear once more. As the bar moved to 4.60m the local time was past 11pm and it was amazing to see Sam still battling it out with the remaining French vaulters. Not surprisingly in the conditions nobody made 4.60m but Sam had some terrific attempts and was a well deserved winner.

Saturday 23rd June, Day 4
Saturday was effectively a day off, with no competition. Probably just as well as the Friday night competition hadn't finished until well after 11 o'clock at night! The group took the opportunity to make a later than usual start to the day and after gathering for breakfast the group headed out to the Palace of Versailles. Following a lengthy walk around the beautiful grounds o the Palace we stopped for a well earned glass of wine (well, for the older ones in the party anyway) and a snack. We closed out our final evening in Paris with a nice meal together.

Sunday 24th June, Day 5
We had enjoyed fabulous weather for our entire stay so far but on Sunday it took a turn for the worse. We started out for the last of our three competitions at Maison Laffitte in the northern suburbs of Paris with the skies looking ominous.
By the time we arrived at the venue it was already starting to rain and the temperature had dropped dramatically. Once again the competitors were split into two pools and the first group included Sam Brown and Mariette Hilborne together with some elite French vaulters still trying to qualify for the Olympic Games. Despite the cold wet conditions Mariette once again sailed over 4 metres to equal her personal best of Wednesday evening. four metres was now becoming routine! she was once again very close to 4.10m. Sam Brown also vaulted well again and seemed to have upped his performance level all week as he cleared 4.40m and missed narrowly at 4.60m.

By the time the second competition got under way the weather had turned really nasty and young George Turner fresh from his personal best on Friday evening cleared 2.80m easily and was oh so close at increasing his personal best yet again to 3 metres. Murray Hilborne also belied his inexperience as a pole vaulter as he handled the terrible conditions to make 2.80m. The one remaining British competitor Rachel Arnheim was relishing the challenge and showed great composure and control as she cleared successive heights up to and including 3.50m which was better than several French elite women vaulters could do. Rachel was a deserving winner on an awful day for pole vaulting.

Although we left the stadium wet and bedraggled, it could not dampen our spirits as we once again got our cavalcade of 4x4's heading towards Calais to board the train home. The whole French experience had been enormously enjoyable and The London Pole Vault Academy had organised the first of many successful overseas trips. The possibilities are endless and I am already working on future opportunities for vaulters of all abilities to enjoy the buzz of international competition.

The next exciting opportunity for The London Pole Vault Academy is the prospect of Sergey Bubka coming to London to work with some our young vaulters. Look out for news of this as soon as it becomes available.

FULL RESULTS
Wednesday 20th June, Antony, France.

  • Teresa Eades - W50 Dartford Harriers AC - 2.20m
  • Louisa Clarke - Sen Women Sutton & District AC - 2.80m
  • George Turner - U15 Brighton & Hove AC - 2.80m
  • Holly Turner - U17 Brighton & Hove AC - 3.15m
  • Rachel Arnheim - Sen Blackheath & Bromley AC 3.45m
  • Mariette Hilborne - Sen Blackheath & Bromley AC 4.00m PB
  • Sam Brown - U23 Lewes AC - 4.40m
Friday 22nd June, Fontainebleau, France.
  • Teresa Eades - W50 Dartford Harriers AC - 2.20m
  • Gabby Bangay - U20 Corby AC - 2.95m
  • Murray Hilborne - M45 Blackheath & Bromley AC - 2.95m
  • George Turner - U15 Brighton & Hove AC - 2.95m PB
  • Holly Turner - U17 Brighton & Hove AC - 3.10m
  • Rachel Arnheim - Sen Blackheath & Bromley AC - 3.40m
  • Allan Williams - M55 Blackheath & Bromley AC - 3.40m
  • Sam Brown - U23 Lewes AC - 4.40m
Sunday 24th June, Maison Laffitte, France.
  • George Turner - U15 Brighton & Hove AC - 2.80m
  • Murray Hilborne - M45 Blackheath & Bromley AC - 2.80m
  • Rachel Arnheim - Sen Blackheath & Bromley AC 3.50m
  • Mariette Hilborne - Sen Blackheath & Bromley AC 4.00m PB
  • Sam Brown - U23 Lewes AC - 4.40m