Transporting poles has always been a pain

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.oxfordmail.net/community/mem ... _story.php

Athlete tells us the pole story

Chris Avery clears the high jump bar at the Iffley Road Running Track in Oxford
Athlete Chris Avery was delighted when he was chosen to compete in the All-England Schools' Championships.

But his selection brought with it a huge problem.

He was a pole vaulter and how was he going to get his 10ft long aluminium pole from Oxford to Belle Vue, Manchester?

It didn't fold or bend, so he had to pick it up, carry it and hope for the best.

In the end, everything worked out well - he took it on the train, laying it along the corridor, which ran beside the passenger compartments, and hoping no-one would fall over it.

And thankfully, when he reached Manchester, the family he was staying with had a house big enough to accommodate such an awkward object.

In the championships, against the leading schoolboy competitors in the land, he came third and earned the bronze medal for himself and Oxfordshire.

Mr Avery, of Juniper Drive, Blackbird Leys, called in at Newspaper House after seeing himself in the picture of the athletics team at Wheatley Secondary School (Memory Lane, September 17). He was at the school from 1951-54 and excelled in the high jump as well as in the pole vault.

As we recalled, the best athletes in school teams were selected for the county schools' championships at the Iffley Road running track in Oxford.

The best in those championships were then chosen to represent Oxfordshire in the All-England event.

Mr Avery's skill earned him a place in the pole vault and high jump in the county team at Belle Vue, although he can't remember how he fared in the high jump.

His time at Wheatley Secondary School brought not only success on the athletics field but also in romance.

He met fellow former pupil Myrtle Simmonds at a school reunion in 1980 and is now happily married to her!