Strange rich in talent – but poor in other areas

CASH-strapped Shettleston Harrier Alistair Strange, a 26-year-old aeronautical engineering student at Loughborough, soared into contention for the Scottish Commonwealth Games team with a new Scottish National pole vault record of 5.16 metres at the Scottish Indoor Championships at the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow.

"I had exams up till last week and I get a bit stressed so I had to lay off my training," said Strange, a native of Fort William who defeated his training partner and former champion Richard Hurren (5.01m) before attempting a new best of 5.21m.

Strange, who set the previous record of 5.15m at Loughborough last month, is funding his own honours degree course and also receives no financial backing for his athletics.

Incredibly he is not even in the Scottish Commonwealth Games training squad, though the outdoor qualifying standard for Delhi 2010 of 5.20m is clearly well within his grasp. "Some financial support would certainly help," he agreed.

Former coach Eamon McCabe was delighted for Strange: "Clearly his spell doing other events has helped and he and Richard have made the right move going to Loughborough where they can train with other vaulters."

Strange, a member of the original Bank of Scotland pole vault squad, quit the event to dabble in long and triple jumps and even 400 hurdles before returning to it with a vengeance last season.

Meanwhile, defending champion Dwain Chambers opened his indoor campaign with a 60m victory in the Birmingham Games, his impressive time of 6.58 seconds putting him ahead of Mark Lewis-Francis and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey.

The trio will run again at next weekend's Aviva trials in Sheffield, where they will be bidding to clinch their places for next month's World Indoor Championships in Doha.