Local pole vaulter Glen Quayle won the senior boys’ pole vault title at the English Schools Track and Field Championships last weekend.

The 17-year-old former Northern Athletics Club member from Baldrine is now based in Loughborough studying for a diploma in art to enable him to further his vaulting.

The Isle of Man Sport Aid-supported athlete made the move to England last September and has settled down into a disciplined training routine under the watchful eyes of coaches Henrietta Paxton and Scott Simpson (coach to GB vaulter Holly Bradshaw).

Quayle suffered with minor injury niggles between indoor and outdoor season but trained around it and has come back stronger as a result.

He didn’t compete until he was completely fit and started his summer season only a fortnight ago when making his debut for his UK club Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers at the Upper Youth Development League in the Premier Division at Hendon where he vaulted 4m 40cm.

That qualified him for the British Athletics League event in Sheffield the following week where he achieved the same result.

He knew he could vault higher but needed to make the change to stiffer poles so the next week was used wisely making that adjustment in training.

The Manx teenager was one of eight athletes to achieve the qualifying height for the English Schools in Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium last weekend. At the time of entering he was ranked seventh out of the eight on current personal bests.

Representing Leicestershire Schools his first vault was at four metres, which he cleared cleanly and carried on from that to execute text book first-time clearances over 4.20, 4.40, 4.50 (a new pb and Manx record), 4.60 and 4.70.

By the time the bar got to 4m 80cm there were only three athletes left of the original eight. The medals were going to be decided over the next few vaults.

Jake Watson (Shropshire) didn’t manage to clear 4.80 so he took the bronze medal. This left Quayle and Jacob Clark (Somerset Schools), who had a previous pb of 4.75.

Having only previously cleared 4.43, the competition suddenly became very exciting as Quayle mirrored his rival’s every move. Both cleared 4.80 on their final attempt (a new pb for Clark). The bar was raised to 4.90 and both had three valiant and nailbiting attempts at clearing but it wasn’t to be.

Had Clark not knocked the bar off on his first attempt at 4.50 there would have been a jump-off to decide the winner but this error meant that Quayle was the victor as his scorecard was clean up to 4.80. It was phenomenal vaulting by both lads in their first year of senior schools and UK under-20 age group.

’I came in to the competition as the underdog and came out as a champion,’ said Glen. ’I went in hoping to pb at 4.50 never dreaming that I could go on and increase my pb by 37cms. I didn’t think a podium position was achievable this time but it goes to show that anything can happen. I’m excited for the future.’

Quayle was also gold medallist and champion in the junior boys’ category in 2016. This performance moves him up from number 15 in the UK rankings to joint second with Clark after this competition.

His thoughts are now turning towards the possibility of competing at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham where the qualifying standard in the region of 5m 15cm/5m 20cm would be required. He has another two years to achieve that.

He wishes to thank all those who have stood by him over the years and helped him achieve what he has done.

Without support from IoM Sport Aid and Chase Your Dream, along with family and friends contributions, he would not be where he is today.

l A group of five athletes representing IoM Schools also took part, Ben Sinclair taking bronze in the junior boys’ 300-metre race. A report on them will appear next week.