Highly Commended

Third year MEng Mechanical Engineering. Member of the University of Edinburgh’s Athletics team and Edinburgh Engineers Rugby

I was born in Inverness, Scotland where I've lived my whole life before university with my three brothers and parents.

I have represented Scotland several times in different track and field events, mainly specializing in pole vault after a serious ankle injury at 16 which effectively ended my decathlon career. I am also passionate about maths and at 11 placed second in Scotland in the "UK Mathletics Maths Challenge".

I've chosen a photo of myself pole vaulting at the Scottish Championships in the summer of 2019. In it you can see the fibre glass pole which is 4.9m long, weighing less than 2kg.

In my opinion pole vault is one of the best examples of how engineering has advanced a sport. In the last 50 years poles have transformed from heavy bamboo sticks to highly engineered specialist equipment, directly causing huge 'leaps' in the heights that vaulters can reach.