Track and field is not an inherently risky exercise, except perhaps when sprinting flat out while carrying a long pole in your hands before attempting to vault well above the height of the standard double-decker bus.
When Conor Callinan was 13 years old, in training for this very exercise, his pole snapped cleanly in the middle and his vault ended up somewhere on the flat of his back. It didn’t put him off: last June, aged 16, he became the youngest Irish senior athletics champion, winning the pole vault event at the Morton Stadium in Santry wearing the colours of Leevale Athletic Club.
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- February 25, 2022
