FINN VALLEY AC pole vaulter Tori Peña was left to count the cost of an important piece of missing luggage at a Diamond League meet in Doha yesterday.
In the Qatari captital, Peña had three attempts at the opening height of 4.23 metres, but bowed out of the competition after failing to clear the bar each of the three times.
However, Peña was badly inhibited for the event as she had to use borrowed poles.
The missing luggage were the Californian’s poles, which got lost in transit.
“The poles didn’t show up off her plane when Tori arrived in Doha,” said Irish Athletics Team Manager Patsy McGonagle.
“She used another girl’s poles, but one of those was too short and the other was too stiff, so it just didn’t work.”
The problem of pole transportation is a regular one for vaulters like Peña, who competed at the 2012 Olympic Games in London and is set to compete at this year’s Olympics in Rio.
Peña’s poles are around 14 feet in length and getting them transported around the world is a familiar hazard.
