In a relatively short time of coaching Jeremy McColl has managed to not only self fund nearly a set of Poles but to grow his event from having very little depth to one of the fastest  growing and successful Athletics events in NZ. Where Pole Vault events used to be poorly attended, they are now one of the highlights in any meet in NZ. For the group to continue their success they require assistance to keep their athletes attending events and pay for the equipment necessary to train athletes of all abilities- given that nearly each athlete has a unique weight and technique meaning a specific pole length and density must be used to be safe and get great results.

Currently the group has poles that need replacing/added to help us continue to be successful on the World Stage and Nationally. Poles are easily damaged and broken and over the years Jeremy has personally had to purchase all of these right from the start with his own saved money.

In this time Jeremy has taken Pole vault from an event that was going nowhere with hardly any poles to use to one that is now seeing World Class results amongst our top vaulters and an increasingly growing event amongst our community. Poles range from $500-$1000 each and a full set of poles is around 150 Poles. 

Last year we saw Eliza McCartney win our first ever Pole Vault medal at an International World Championships at the Under 20 Worlds in Eugene Oregon and this year a silver medal at the World University Games and in 2011 Nick Southgate placed 4th in the World at the under 18 World Championships in Lille France and Eliza in 2013 also Placing 4th at the Under 18 World Championships in Donetsk Ukraine a year before her medal at the Junior Championships.

Currently the group has no sponsorships so all Poles have been purchased by Jeremy over the last 5 years close to $100,000 to give our community a chance at this exciting and wonderful event.

Currently there are no back up poles so if a pole is scratched (very common athletes have spikes in their shoes) or they snap, there is no replacement.

The club is 20 poles short of a full set. Compared to other International centres that have 2-3 sets of poles due to travelling athletes and needing back up poles etc they have done really well with such few poles. The group is also growing and many athletes are at different ability levels and just not the equipment to train on. The group has proven results and hopes to grow even more in public profile over the next few years. 

WHAT IS THE FUNDING FOR?

Travel and equipment costs.

HOW THIS WILL BENEFIT THE COMMUNITY?

By providing more equipment for current and future community Pole Vaulters and to allow our pole vaulters to travel to events like New Zealand National Championships, Australian Championships etc

The groups Pole Vaulter’s come from different clubs around Auckland so it isn’t for one particular club that this will effect. This will effect a community of Pole Vaulters in the Auckland Area and local clubs. The athletes travel to the Millennium Institute of Sport