Welsh Pole Vaulters will be able to fly to even higher measures thanks to a grant received from the Sport Council for Wales.

The Welsh Pole Vault Association (WPVA) received a £7,434 grant to buy 29 new poles – a purchase that will enable the country’s young vaulters to train with new, high quality material and therefore push their best performances up.

With each athletes needing more than 5-6 poles in order to train properly, and different poles needed for various level of athlete weight, the Welsh Pole Vault Association cannot stress enough the importance of the funding by the SCW.

In the words of Ed Thompson, coach and chairman of the WPVA, the grant represents a real boon in what is one of track & field most expensive disciplines:

"A new pole can cost up to £500, and athletes use many of them in training and competition; if you add to the equation the fact that they can at times break, you can see how the money will help us provide the athletes training with us with better material".

The new poles will be decorated with the logo of the Sports Council for Wales to acknowledge the help the SCW provided in the form of the grant.

Pictured here are some of the WPVA athletes posing with their poles, the SCW logo well visible.