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Congratulations gentlemen John Altendorf! John raised his recent M65 WR from 3.82 to 3.84 at the WMA meet in Sacramento. John is the "gold" standard that the rest of us are trying to keep up with. I think John now has more "records" than Elvis had! I am sure John will be going higher still. Also congratulations to Dennis Phillips, Matti Kilpelainen and Joe Johnston for their great performances at the same meet. I look forward to competing with everyone again in the future.

Well done Doc!

Thanks Art and Alan. It wasn't pretty but I was fortunate to adjust a bit to the conditions and make the bar.
(Video is on my web link below.)

ALL of those jumps look great!! CONGRATS John and thanks for the text back from the meet. Bubba

It appears that John rasied the bar again, to 3.89 (12 ft 9 in). Way to go John.

art

artparry wrote:It appears that John rasied the bar again, to 3.89 (12 ft 9 in).

Hi Art. Although I did jump 12' 9" (video on plvlt.com) it won't improve the world record. There were not the requisite number of USATF officials present at the meet on July 28th. On Saturday I have one last meet for the season. There are no guarantees in this sport, but I'm healthy and that is half the battle to having a good competition. So, we will see what happens.

Sometimes it happens that we don't have sufficient officials. However, they are volunteers and we owe them many thanks for all the work they do to give us the opportunities we have to perform. Good luck this week and I hope you can officially raise the record. I also have one (maybe two) competitions remaining this year. One in Ft. Collins, Colorado and possibly one in San Diego. Hopefully I will get my act together and actually clear a height for a change! Like I said good luck this week.

art

Art,

You are so correct about us owing to the officials. I try to make it a point to go to each person that has been helping run the pv event and thank them after each competition. When I realized there weren't enough officials on hand, I just said that makes it easy. Just raise the bar to the next scheduled height and I'll see what I can do. I didn't have to try and figure out what height I wanted it set at.

Good luck to you in your last competitions. Just go make it happen. You know you can do well. That other stuff is behind you and the future looks good!

- John

John jumped 3.89 (12'9) at the High Desert Classic yesterday. He had two good attempts at 4.00. Nice going, John!
video of the WR jump:
http://vimeo.com/27692498

The meet was won by Jared Hippler at 16'2; he had some close shots at 16'7. John A., Jared, and his dad get the sportsmanship award for winning the meet and then helping us put all the pits away!!

Annie Sidor won the girls with 10'6 from 6 lefts, close at 11'

Thanks to everyone who came out, and to the officials for making it through a very long hot day!

Tom

Congrats John A., just wish you could have gone to Nationals and had a go at that record. Was waiting to see what you were "going" to jump. ....... I watched John jump for 2 world records, Nationals 2010 Sac M60 and Worlds 2011 Sac M65 ... but after seeing the videos, how many different poles were used to set all of the records ? Phil

Thanks Phil. If I were independently wealthy, I would probably attend more of the meets, especially National championships. So sometimes I need to pick the meets that are close enough to drive to. Regarding the poles, I have two series; 13'-6" and 14' length. For the past couple of years I have used the 13-6 indoors and 14 outdoors. I don't know how many different poles were used for the records, but it is possible a different one was used for each. As you know, the right pole is the biggest one you can get into the pit on. And that will depend on how strong you feel and whether you have a head, tail, or side wind. I do try to select based on those parameters. I am fortunate and grateful to my friends/coaches that have loaned me poles to help round out my pole bag!

This most recent record was video recorded by 3 different people. Tom Sorenson posted a link to one above (http://vimeo.com/27692498). Scott Elliott posted one on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL4nxIaTfHE) and my wife Jodi recorded the one on my website (link below).

The High Desert Classic meet had a great pole vault event. Thanks to all who made it happen. It was the last meet of my outdoor season and was a very nice way to end it.