page revision date: 7th August 2008
The high life leaves Paul jumping for joy
Paul Manwaring is currently a useful golfer at Haverfordwest Golf Club but a number of his current friends who hack around the course with him might be surprised to know that he was a top athlete a few years ago, specialising eventually in the high jump, where his best leap was an amazing six feet eight inches!
His dad was Brian Manwaring, one of the most respected of local footballers and Paul also played football a few years ago at Crundale and Prendergast Villa, who achieved the third division double of league and cup when he was there, but a broken leg forced him to retire from the game.
He also played hockey for Haverfordwest Men’s team in his younger days as a centre forward who had loads of pace but whose dribbling skills often let him down and cost him lots of goals.
Stiff competition
His athletics started in school where he competed against Gordon Thomas and Steve Barnett in the sprints, the 400 metres and 400 metres hurdles. He loved the high jump, long jump and triple jump and at one stage even tried an impromptu decathlon, organised by Swansea Harriers, where he somehow managed the throws and eventually finished ahead of the then Welsh champ, despite finding the 1,500 metres a torture!
Paul would attribute his prowess in the jumping events to leg strength, allied to a little bit of technical skill and dexterity, and in the long jump he could achieve 21 feet jumping off either leg, with a best of over 40 feet in the triple jump.
“I taught himself the Fosbury Flop,” he told us, “despite the fact that I practised in a sand pit so that any mistake led to me crashing on my shoulders or head, and I was winded on more occasions than I care to remember. When I started competing with the local harriers I always pushed Steve Ingram and Mike Powell, ranked as the top Welsh high jumpers, all the way.
High times
“I took part in athletics events until I was 33 and represented Wales against England, Scotland and Ireland, first at Meadowbank, Scotland and then at Cosford, in Bristol. It was great to pull on the Welsh vest and I will never forget those wonderful days.”
Paul is always ready to poke fun at himself and when he says about his six feet eight inches feat he laughingly says that it earned him a ranking of 109th in Great Britain, but adds that it might have been somewhat higher had a he taken training more seriously. He goes on to say that he could manage a jump of six feet four inches from a standing start with the old scissors kick – and when he stopped competing he still had the urge to jump gates or walls when he thought no-one was looking!
Power driver
That feeling has stopped now because golf has filled that particular hole in his life and in four short years has reduced his handicap from 28 to 10; with a reputation for power driving that was evident at the recent Haverfordwest County Golf Day when he actually put his drive at the par four first hole over the first green!
He started taking an interest in golf as he joined old pals Gordon Thomas and Chris parry knocking a few balls around at the rugby club. But it was years before tried his luck on a course when his neighbour, John Hughes, plus John’s sons Owain and Rhys, encouraged him to join Haverfordwest Golf Club.
He has already won a few monthly medals and has his name on the club’s honours board by winning the W George Matchplay event in 2004 – and last year he was joined by Mickey Harries as runners-up in the Mel Carr Foursomes. He has talked about trying his luck on other courses but in the meanwhile he will continue to enjoy the camaraderie at Haverfordwest – whilst retaining his fond memories of his days as a very good athlete who represented his country.
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