Long Jump Conference at Loughborough University 08/11/2008 – Mike Powell & Lynn Davies

Mark Dacre and Carl Foster (Track & Field Coaches) recently visited Loughborough University for a Coaches Long Jump Conference organised for the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund and organised by England Athletics.

The whole weekend was dedicated to the Field Jumps, i.e. Long Jump, High Jump, Triple Jump and Pole Vault. The conference was attended by many coaching staff from all over the UK. Also there were many of the GB Athletes, who were listening to the talks given by some famous athletes.

Certainly the highlight for myself was meeting Mike Powell from the USA who holds the World’s Long Jump record of 8.95m, set in Tokyo 1991 (in an epic Long Jump World Championships – beating Carl Lewis).

Try measuring this out and you will see how far it really is!

Lynn Davies of GB, who won the Olympic Gold Medal in 1964 at Tokyo, was also there!

The talks were fascinating, hosted by Stuart Storey from the BBC Commentary Box, they gave us an insight into how the famous athletes gained their success. Lynn Davies and Mike Powell spoke about their triumphs and their roads to success and we even had Long Jump demonstrations and techniques provided by the superman, Mike Powell.

It was a privilege to meet these fantasic people and very inspiring. Any long jump tips, then Carl and Mark are the “guys”! One thing for sure is that to be a good long jumper your need speed, you need to know how to run – so practise those drills! This was emphasised by the great man himself, Mike Powell.

Mark Dacre

Horwich RMI Harriers

Junior Coach