Zoe Brown Irish Record 4.00m

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.athleticsireland.ie/content/?p=7736

Brown Sets New Outdoor Record

Sunday, June 14th, 2009
Zoe Brown set a new National Outdoor Pole Vault record when winning the Northern Ireland/ Ulster Senior C’Ships in Antrim on Saturday 13th.

Her 4.00m at Antrim surpasses the existing mark of 3.95m that Zoe set at Loughborough in 2008 . Hopefully it will be the first of many this summer as she seeks qualification for the World Championships in Berlin.

Claire Wilkinson of Ballymena and Antrim AC continued her fine season by vaulting another 3.70m to finish 2nd at same event while Ian Rogers (Clonliffe Harriers) won the mens pole vault with a new pb of 4.50m

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-s ... 02441.html

Honeymoon can wait as Campbell and Brown depart for winter training camp

By Cliona Foley
Friday October 02 2009
NEWLY wed Irish internationals David Campbell and Zoe Brown fly to South Africa next Tuesday but it's certainly not for a honeymoon.

Campbell is the 2008 Irish 800m and 1,500m champion with a 1:45.59 800m personal best who narrowly missed out on qualification for the World Championships last summer, while Brown made history in Turin last March as the first Irish pole vaulter to compete in a 'major' at the European Indoors.

They got married in Scotland a week ago but any temptation to luxuriate around a pool sipping cocktails hasn't crossed their minds as their trip to South Africa is specifically for training purposes.

With the European Championships in Barcelona next August, the 2010 season holds huge promise for Irish athletes and the couple are wasting no time by heading off for three months of winter training in Potchefstroom.

They will actually separate -- temporarily of course! -- in January when Campbell heads on to Australia to train with coach Nic Bideau while Brown stays on in South Africa.

And even when they return to Ireland next March they will inevitably spend further time apart because Campbell's training will take him over to London, where Bideau's training group move each summer.

It's certainly an unusual start to anyone's married life but it is what the focussed sporting couple feel they need to do to achieve their dual sporting ambitions and it certainly underlines the ascetic lifestyle of track and field athletes.

Accommodation in Potchefstroom is a lot more basic than anything advertised in glossy wedding brochures but the training facilities, weather and altitude (1,400m) make it an affordable winter training base which has previously been used by top Irish distance runners like James Nolan.

And Campbell is hoping that a combination of South Africa and his usual early outdoor season Down Under will give him a great base for 2010.

"I've had a bittersweet year," Campbell admitted of breaking 1:46 for 800m but still not qualifying for Berlin with a time that left him eighth on the European rankings.

"But it's left me hungry to do things better, and the goal next year is very much to perform at a European finals next July.

"I already have the qualifying standard for both the 800m and 1,500m so that takes a lot of pressure off and should help me to peak for championships," he added.

Brown is a native of Antrim town who made huge progress when breaking the Irish indoor pole vault record three times in quick succession last winter, adding 20cm to take it up to 4.20m.

While South Africa is ideal for distance runners she could yet particularly benefit from the experience because one of the many internationals who will be training at the same centre is Poland's Anna Rogowska, the surprise new world pole vault champion in Berlin, where Yelena Isenbayeva caused a huge shock by failing to register even one clearance.