PoleVaultPower.com

From a high school meet yesterday (he successfully completed the jump...):

No!

Have never seen anything like that. BTW did they continue to vault or end the event at that point?

Dan

That's weird. Even weirder that he finished the vault!

THIS IS A SERIOUS SAFETY ISSUE!!!

The box was not installed properly - if it's fiberglass (which it must have been), then it should have had concrete right to the top of the stopboard (or boards for indoors). If it's metal, then this 'flaw' is damn near impossible.

I wonder how high up the concrete went?

I also see a shiny metal stopboard a couple inches high at the bottom of the box. Don't tell me that whoever installed the box thought that every vaulter could hit that!

It's actually quite unusual to hit high on the stopboard ... but it does happen, as evidenced by this pic.

At Bellingham's Sportsplex last week, I was watching a young girl vaulting, but the front buns hid the box from my view. I kept hearing a click-click each time she planted ... instead of the normal 'click'. Turned out she was hitting the box high, then her weight forced the pole down, causing the double-click. So it does happen and the box should be installed PROPERLY to cover that.

Kirk

Event continued with no problems, but it was stopped once the placements were decided for girls and for boys (it was a district qualifying meet). There was no additional jumping for heights, etc. No one else hit the hole...

This was not the only thing wrong with the meet. When they brought sand in for the long jump pit, they had about three times too much, so it was about a foot higher than the surrounding concrete. They then brought a tractor in to remove the extra sand and smooth it out, but the tractor got stuck.

The district meet rotates among four venues, year-to-year, but I can pretty much guarantee that it won't rotate back here...

KirkB wrote:...if it's fiberglass (which it must have been), ...

That's what I thought at first.

KirkB wrote:If it's metal, then this 'flaw' is damn near impossible.

The polished metal at the bottom would appear to just be where the white paint was worn away and the metal box is showing. Abrasion from many pole tips and sand in the box could keep it looking that way. However, you can see rust discoloration in several places. I would suspect the metal rusted from the backside of the box and it weakened significantly in that place. When the pole hit it directly, the rusted area just broke through.

This is the surface of the plant box at the meet we are going to tomorrow (we went there earlier in the season). Totally worried that type of thing will happen...

KirkB wrote:It's actually quite unusual to hit high on the stopboard ... but it does happen, as evidenced by this pic.

High schoolers do it all the time.

The box is fiberglass. The metal piece looked like a repair to earlier damage.

Other issues at the venue:

1. There were two sections of the runway, about 10-12 feet in front of the box where the center of the runway had worn down to the concrete. A couple of girls who "push" their poles really had problems.

2. There were WASPS!

3. About fifty feet behind the pit was a corrugated metal building. Several jumpers said that the vertical corrugations made it difficult for them to see the bar.

4. Here is a photo of the pit. Straps between pads had dry rotted, and two of the boys landed in the resultant "ditches" between the pads. One said that he actually hit the concrete. (Interestingly, this was the first venue this year where the standards and the height have been "spot on"...)

Where were their standard base pads?

rainbowgirl28 wrote:Where were their standard base pads?

Ya' got ME!!!

ClintonMagus wrote:The box is fiberglass. The metal piece looked like a repair to earlier damage.

Other issues at the venue:

1. There were two sections of the runway, about 10-12 feet in front of the box where the center of the runway had worn down to the concrete. A couple of girls who "push" their poles really had problems.

2. There were WASPS!

3. About fifty feet behind the pit was a corrugated metal building. Several jumpers said that the vertical corrugations made it difficult for them to see the bar.

4. Here is a photo of the pit. Straps between pads had dry rotted, and two of the boys landed in the resultant "ditches" between the pads. One said that he actually hit the concrete. (Interestingly, this was the first venue this year where the standards and the height have been "spot on"...)

This whole setup just looks scary. I don't think I'd wish anyone to jump at that facility.