Article about traveling with poles
Posted: Sun Jul 11, 2004 8:23 am
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/st ... 3019c.html
Traveling with tools of the trade can put contestants poles apart
Track topic: Separation anxiety
By John Schumacher -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Sunday, July 11, 2004
Stacy Dragila travels a lot. She's also a pole vaulter, which can make for a pretty frustrating combination.
Imagine strolling up to the airport check-in counter with a long bag containing several poles 14 to 17 feet long. Expect delays, hassles and sometimes worse.
Most airlines won't transport them. Flying on a smaller plane? Forget it. Going overseas? Pray those poles survive language barriers and distant connections.
So if you think you have a good lost-luggage story, the pole vault crowd can probably top it.
"Last summer I lost my poles four times going to Europe," said Dragila, an Auburn native and the 2000 gold medalist at the Sydney Olympics.
"A couple of years before that, it was a breeze. Usually it's Kellie Suttle who loses her poles, poor girl. She has different poles than all of us, so it's hard to help her out."
That happens often, with vaulters loaning each other poles. But jumping on someone else's equipment isn't easy.
"It's like a golf club for a guy," Dragila said. "I take about eight to 10 poles a meet. ... I warm up on different ones. Then as I get back to the fuller run, I get on a little bit different pole.
"You bond with your poles. You know what they're going to do, how they react. ... Some poles might have the same flexes as mine, but it's just your pole. Different. Very different."
Ask vaulters if they've had trouble transporting poles, and their facial expression telegraphs the answer.
"It is a headache," Mary Sauer, the 2002 U.S. Indoor champion, said with a smile. "You just kind of prepare yourself every day for whatever adventure's going to come."
Sauer said she's been lucky the past few years. But she recalled crying at the Rome airport in 2001 after being told her poles weren't going anywhere.
"They said, 'It's not possible,' " Sauer said. "They wanted me to live in the Rome airport.
"It (stinks) because golf clubs, surfboards, they'll take everything. But poles, for some reason they don't want to take them."
Sauer then started laughing about the time someone asked if he could fold her poles in half. Uh, no.
Derek Miles, the Bella Vista High School graduate and 2003 U.S. Indoor champion, grinned as he told the story of going to the Memphis airport with teammate Jeff Hartwig.
"He was not three feet away from me, and we were checking in together," Miles said. "I could hear what they were talking about, and they could hear what we were talking about. Right when the lady said (to Hartwig), 'OK, you're ready to go,' mine said, 'OK, it's $80.' "
Miles said going overseas doubles the trouble.
"Europe's like twice as hard," he said. "A lot of times, they just come up and say, 'We can't put them on the plane,' and we've got to battle that whole hurdle.
"As long as I pay $80 and they get them on the plane, I'm OK with that."
Tye Harvey, who trains with Miles, Hartwig and other vaulters in Jonesboro, Ark., said the pole dilemma makes planning difficult.
"There's only one or maybe two carriers that even takes pole vaulting poles anymore," he said. "They're constantly lost. How can you lose a 16-foot long bag?
"Almost every single flight, there's an issue. 'We can't get your pole to you until three days from now.'
"A lot of times, they'll set them in the cargo bay and a forklift will lift or run right over the bag and break the poles in half," he said. "I've actually heard a story of a guy coming back with his pole bag sawed in half. They sawed it in half, folded it and put it away."
Traveling with tools of the trade can put contestants poles apart
Track topic: Separation anxiety
By John Schumacher -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Sunday, July 11, 2004
Stacy Dragila travels a lot. She's also a pole vaulter, which can make for a pretty frustrating combination.
Imagine strolling up to the airport check-in counter with a long bag containing several poles 14 to 17 feet long. Expect delays, hassles and sometimes worse.
Most airlines won't transport them. Flying on a smaller plane? Forget it. Going overseas? Pray those poles survive language barriers and distant connections.
So if you think you have a good lost-luggage story, the pole vault crowd can probably top it.
"Last summer I lost my poles four times going to Europe," said Dragila, an Auburn native and the 2000 gold medalist at the Sydney Olympics.
"A couple of years before that, it was a breeze. Usually it's Kellie Suttle who loses her poles, poor girl. She has different poles than all of us, so it's hard to help her out."
That happens often, with vaulters loaning each other poles. But jumping on someone else's equipment isn't easy.
"It's like a golf club for a guy," Dragila said. "I take about eight to 10 poles a meet. ... I warm up on different ones. Then as I get back to the fuller run, I get on a little bit different pole.
"You bond with your poles. You know what they're going to do, how they react. ... Some poles might have the same flexes as mine, but it's just your pole. Different. Very different."
Ask vaulters if they've had trouble transporting poles, and their facial expression telegraphs the answer.
"It is a headache," Mary Sauer, the 2002 U.S. Indoor champion, said with a smile. "You just kind of prepare yourself every day for whatever adventure's going to come."
Sauer said she's been lucky the past few years. But she recalled crying at the Rome airport in 2001 after being told her poles weren't going anywhere.
"They said, 'It's not possible,' " Sauer said. "They wanted me to live in the Rome airport.
"It (stinks) because golf clubs, surfboards, they'll take everything. But poles, for some reason they don't want to take them."
Sauer then started laughing about the time someone asked if he could fold her poles in half. Uh, no.
Derek Miles, the Bella Vista High School graduate and 2003 U.S. Indoor champion, grinned as he told the story of going to the Memphis airport with teammate Jeff Hartwig.
"He was not three feet away from me, and we were checking in together," Miles said. "I could hear what they were talking about, and they could hear what we were talking about. Right when the lady said (to Hartwig), 'OK, you're ready to go,' mine said, 'OK, it's $80.' "
Miles said going overseas doubles the trouble.
"Europe's like twice as hard," he said. "A lot of times, they just come up and say, 'We can't put them on the plane,' and we've got to battle that whole hurdle.
"As long as I pay $80 and they get them on the plane, I'm OK with that."
Tye Harvey, who trains with Miles, Hartwig and other vaulters in Jonesboro, Ark., said the pole dilemma makes planning difficult.
"There's only one or maybe two carriers that even takes pole vaulting poles anymore," he said. "They're constantly lost. How can you lose a 16-foot long bag?
"Almost every single flight, there's an issue. 'We can't get your pole to you until three days from now.'
"A lot of times, they'll set them in the cargo bay and a forklift will lift or run right over the bag and break the poles in half," he said. "I've actually heard a story of a guy coming back with his pole bag sawed in half. They sawed it in half, folded it and put it away."
He said he'd try for more.
