Menno Vloon was so eager to participate in the Diamond League competition in Chorzow, Poland, last weekend that he drove there by car. The Dutch pole vaulter was supposed to go by plane, but when the pilot refused to take his poles with him, he saw only one other solution: to drive. And it ended up costing him dearly.
Around 3 p.m., Vloon would fly from Eindhoven Airport with Wizz Air to Katowice in Poland. Once on the plane, he was informed that his sticks could not be taken on the flight after all. “That happens often, because the sticks are more than five meters long. They always have a solution, so it is never really a problem. But this time it is, because after consultation with the pilot, the sticks really had to be left behind.”
Full throttle to Poland
In a split second, Vloon, together with an American jumper, decided to travel to Poland by car. “We alternated driving and drove non-stop for 11 hours. We were only at the hotel around 2 am,” says Vloon from the car. “It wasn’t until breakfast that the other athletes realized that we finally made it. Hardly anyone could believe it.”
After a short night, Vloon felt pretty good for the Diamond League game. While jumping in, he actually didn’t notice much of the long drive anymore. He jumped the first height of 5.41 meters with ease, but he just couldn’t manage the next height. “I didn’t feel sharp and I was staring straight ahead for a long time,” says Vloon, who was allowed to participate in one of the largest athletics competitions in Europe. “So it was definitely not what I had hoped for.”
Afterwards, Vloon says he has no regrets that he still drove to the competition. “I really wanted to take action there. It’s just a pity that I didn’t perform well.” Vloon does hope that the airline will meet him in the costs of the flight and the extra costs incurred. Vloon expects to run into this problem more often in the future, but so far it has always gone well.
In a week and a half Vloon will be in action at the NK athletics in Breda. Five times before, the Dutch record holder was crowned Dutch outdoor pole vault champion.