Irie wins European Championships, but warm up was the story!

[completemadness]

COMPLETE MADNESS SPORTS

Press Release

Aarhuis, Denmark - July 29th 2004

Irie Hill competed in her first European Masters Championships today, and came away with a Gold medal, a Championship Best Performance (by 40cm) and a very special warm up.

The competition was held at the newly refurbished Aarhuis stadium, in Denmark, and 11 people lined up to battle for gold from across Europe. The start time of 9.00 a.m. was a challenge, meaning an early start after flying in the night before, but Irie arrived at the stadium at 7.00 a.m. to make sure all was in order and she could get her full warm up in.

After warming up with her drills and a couple of run-up checks Irie had a jump over a bar set at 3.70m, which she comfortably cleared. She then asked to raise the bar to 4.00m, and again she went clear, although she noticed the pole getting soft, so she moved up to a stiffer one.

As time was running out to start the competition, Irie asked if the bar could be raised to 4.30m for her last warm up. As the officials were using a real bar, it gave her a chance to see how close she could get. What nobody was prepared for, including Irie, was for her to clear the bar comfortably.

Now came the waiting game as she had to watch the bar move up before entering the actual competition. After 2 hours and 45 minutes the bar reached 3.70m, her opening height. She cleared first time and had the bar raised to 3.90m, which again she cleared first time.

Next height Irie chose was 4.12m, and this is where the wheels came off. Her first jump the pole was too soft, so she moved up a pole. As the long wait and travel took a toll Irie’s rhythm went askew and the jump was not as good as she hoped, causing the bar to fall on the way up.

Irie moved the stands back, and tried again, but this time the jump was better, and the angle caused her to hit the bar on the way down.

After the competition Irie was in a philosophical mood.

“Well, the warm up jump is the highest ‘real’ bar I have ever cleared, so that was very exciting. However, it was just typical of my season that I had to wait so long to get my first competition jump, and it is very hard to keep up concentration for that long. I have only had 2 competitions this summer where I waited less than 1 hour before my first jump, and it just makes a long day. Of course, excuses are no good, ultimately I haven’t jumped as high as I wanted, and I will just have to regroup for next week. At least I won and set the Championship Best!â€Â