County pole vaulter wins bronze at Commonwealth Youth Games

31 October 2008

Derbyshire pole vaulter Ed Mourbey has won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games, with a new personal best of 4.70m.

The Chesterfield and District AC Athlete of the Year represented Northern Ireland at the competition in Poona, India.

Despite recent emergency surgery for appendicitis, which had set back his preparations, the 18-year-old pulled out all the stops to clear his opening height of 4.30m, then 4.50m and 4.60m at the second attempts, before sailing over 4.70m with his first attempt.

He then had three failures at 4.80m, but hung on to retain third place overall, finishing in front of the two England nominees, who had gone with higher personal bests.

Ed (pictured) paid tribute to the dedication of his coach, Jon Baker, who had even fitted in a late coaching session hours before his own departure on honeymoon to Mexico.

Ed qualified for the province by virtue of his mother, Colette, being Belfast born, but will, otherwise, be eligible to represent the full UK team, as it is drawn from all the home countries.

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