There were some really fine performances from several island athletes at the Manchester Indoor Open Meeting held at Sportcity recently.

Athletes from three islands clubs competed at the meeting, delivering strong performances across multiple events.

Lara Smith (Manx Harriers) produced a standout display, breaking the Manx record for the women’s under-17 pole vault three times and setting two new personal bests.

Competing with a borrowed pole, she cleared 2.82 metres at the Vaults Manchester event before improving to 2.91m indoors the following day. Her achievements set a new island record which placed her 13th in the UK and fourth in the North West in her age group.

Zac Woodward (Northern AC) also impressed at the Vaults event. Although he was slightly disappointed not to clear his pb on the Saturday, he rebounded strongly on Sunday, improving his pb from 2.93 metres to 3.01m before going on to clear 3.11m.

A near miss at 3.21m suggests that further technical improvements could see him reach even greater heights. He currently ranks 25th in the UK and fourth in the North West in the under-17 men’s age group.

Rory Turner (Western AC) continued to show resilience in his return from his arm injury, maintaining focus on his training.

He managed to knock 0.56 seconds off his pb in the 200m, a positive step forward as he builds strength through winter conditioning.

He also completed in the pole vault, gaining valuable advice from vault coaches which will aid his progress.

Troy Turner (Western AC) made his under-17 debut in the long jump, adapting well to the higher competition level and gaining valuable experience for the season ahead.

At the same meeting, Meghan Pilley, Daniel Stewart-Clague and Max Moore-Lees were all in fine form in the sprints.

In the 200m, Stewart-Clague set a time of 23.10s (an indoor pb), Moore-Lees 24.19s and Pilley 25.62s.

In the 60m, Stewart-Clague, Moore-Lees and Meghan clocked 7.16s, 7.34s and 7.69s respectively. Pilley’s time was another pb.