Indoor Pole Vault Design

[JerryL]

I am looking into the possibility of setting up our PV mats in our HS gym for our JH & HS vaulters. We miss a lot of practice time when our season starts because of our weather here in Kansas. I would only use the gym the first 2-3 weeks and then move outdoors. I only plan to do drills and short run vaults in the gym so I don't need to put up our standards.

My plan is to build an elevated runway using 2x10's and plywood and then put my 1/2" rollout rubber runway on top. The runway will need something under it to protect the gym floor. I'll build a wooden box into the last section and position the runway base and pit against the wall. I have an old set of PV base mats that I'll stand up on ends between the back of the pit and the wall.

see http://www.BernPVHigh.com/IndoorPit.html for a sketch of my plan

A couple questions:

As the pit will be in a corner, what do I need for padding on the side of the pit? Are Basketball wall mats or gymnastic floor mats on the wall suffient?

Does the pit have to be raised to the same level as the runway (lots of 2x10s & plywood) or can it set on the floor (box would set 10" up into the PV Pit cutout)?

Any answers / guidance would be appreciated.

[vaultman18]

We jump in our gym all winter you don't need 2x10's, 2x8's will work. The first two years we used a 6" runway with a shallow box. 2 inch dense foam is what you need I am guessing the wall mats would work as well as gymnastic mats.
Good luck

[1yeldud1]

I believe I'd try the mats directly on the gym floor. they WILL eventially move around but that can be acceptiable if you watch for this condition and correct it as needed. What I'd think I'd consider is placing a couple of 2x4's laid flat on their side, under the pole vault pit, just to act as spacers to keep the runnway / vault box from shifting toward the back of the pole vault pit. The forces involved with planting the pole WILL tend to make the runnway 'cram' in to the pit after several vaulting sessions. In our barn we placed the pole vault mats about 4 feet from the back wall and stood a used set of high jump mats stood on end to catch any vaulters that would over shoot the pit (this crash setup has never failed) If your school has a set of mats this possibly could be an option that you might consider. When assembling the runnway / vault box I'd highly recommend using the deck screws that have the "torx" head. These screws are WONDERFULL - and they will NOT strip out !

[Rhino]

Someone posted a while back that an 8" strip of 3/4" plywood works in place of a 2 X 8. It's cheaper and lighter weight. I can envision using some foam tubes such as are used to insulate copper tubing to slip underneath to prevent scratching the gym floor.

Back in 1971, we had an above-ground box. It was just built like a huge slide box with a little rubber under it for non-skid. I imagine that I could get some pretty good training with such a box (and shorter poles of course) and not have to build a raised runway.

[achtungpv]

Someone posted a while back that an 8" strip of 3/4" plywood works in place of a 2 X 8. It's cheaper and lighter weight.

you can get I-beams made out of plywood from some Home Depots. This is what the runways at the Summit are made out of. I think it's called engineered lumber. Very lightweight, cheap, and strong.

[master]

Does the pit have to be raised to the same level as the runway (lots of 2x10s & plywood) or can it set on the floor (box would set 10" up into the PV Pit cutout)?

I would think that would depend on how high you expect your vaulters to be jumping. You could envision that the effect would be as if you had jumped 10" or so higher than they actually do jump.

That being said, there is at least this one situation where I might be concerned. That is around the box. When a vaulter comes down near the box (in the area where the mats are cut back at an angle), the raised runway would project up into that area, reducing the protection provided by the front mats.

I tend to agree with Rhino in that if you are only going to be using this for a few weeks, why even bother with an elevated runway. You can do a lot of good vaulting drills without a recessed box. In particular, the vaulters could focus on the run and plant and do stiff pole vaulting.

- master

[1yeldud1]

Never even gave it a thought about a wooden box similar to a huge slide box. it could be constructed to set on the gym floor and could have some type of support extending out under the pole vault mats to contact the gym wall to stop / control its movement. This setup should be very administration friendly as far as being able to setup and move the pits / runway if needed. The area where the box and the mats meet would have to be padded with foam - a small concession as the cost of this padding would be quite a bit less than the cost of the elevated runnway. I think this idea might work for short approaches and LIGHT inside work - any comments ??

[stormvault]

We have an indoor elevated runway that we have used for 7 years. When you live in the Great White North it is hard to vault when it is 40 degrees with a wind chill of 20.

With the way the new front buns are designed it is a little hard to get the box area to sit right. What works perfectly is if you have an old set of the porta-pit fronts that are flat. You can then pad the area around the box with 2" of foam and it is set. you also won't run into problems with the box area cramming through the pit.

Also, If you are worried about your gym floor glueing strips of rubber on the bottom would work also.

[master]

That being said, there is at least this one situation where I might be concerned. That is around the box. When a vaulter comes down near the box (in the area where the mats are cut back at an angle), the raised runway would project up into that area, reducing the protection provided by the front mats.

So this situation is exactly what was set up at the U of Washington. The picture below shows their pit. There were a couple of vaulters that landed in the area of concern. Fortunately they weren't hurt. But I still think it adds a little more risk.

- master