Field Turf pole vault runway??

[rainbowgirl28]

Huh?

http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/news.html?d=96066

At that time, FieldTurf will also be installed on the infield and the warning track at Tointon Family Stadium, the home of K-State baseball. Additionally, a FieldTurf pole vault runway and a putting green will also in installed for use by the Wildcats.

[Ming3r]

Weird. Theres an indoor track around where I live, University of Rochester's, which is a bit older. The track sucks and the infield is turf, which I really didn't mind for vaulting.

The fact that there was a tunnel on the second turn sucks though for races, as major clipping occurs...

[JTred]

I actually kinda like vaulting on indoor turf. I'm not sure why. I also like that one of the football lines ran right into the box, so it helped me to run straighter.

[rainbowgirl28]

Regular turf is not so bad for a practice runway, but actual field turf would be quite messy.

I think the article probably got some of the details wrong, I highly doubt they are actually putting in a field turf runway

[VaultnGus]

Speaking as a veteran of the indoor track at the University of Rochester (Penfield HS '88 - had all our indoor meets there) that field turf was actually kinda nice to vault on. The biggest problem was the walkway above - if you had a run longer than 12 strides you had to hold your pole nearly horizontal or you'd bonk the walkway above.

As for that tunnel on turn two - I could tell you some wild stories. They never used to have officials in there and some brutal stuff happened...

[AKell]

like dirty tricks from the guy in second place? sounds half hilarious, half really unfair

[ec1vaulter]

I actually had the chance to see a turf runway this past weekend at Bucknell University. Normally they have two pits w/ normal runways at the end of the track near the finish line. They changed it a little bit this year due to problems with wind direction. A vaulting box was installed facing the turf field and the day of competition a plywood base with a roll-out runway was used as the competition runway for Saturday's meet. It actually worked much better than I thought it would. The surface was low impact, fast, and the plant step was off the turf so it was a solid plant. The wind factor was easily overcome as well... complete tailwind for the entire competition.

Congrats to Melanie Buczko for qualifying for DI regionals and Kevin Clark for setting a new facility record and clearing DIII auto on the intriguing surface.