PoleVaultPower.com

Tri-Valley Athletics has sanctioned a series of meets to help the vaulters qualify for the Olympic Games (some are trying to attain qualifying marks for the US Trials in June, others are trying to attain qualifying marks as set forth by the country they represent). We are doing our best to provide them with opportunities to do whatever it takes to get to Beijing in August.

Granada High School in Livermore, California boasts one of the fastest runways in the state, with favorable tailwinds, it now holds the esteemed title of being the facility where Yoo Kim set the current Korean National Record. Many of you have vaulted here and more then a few have left wishing you had brought bigger poles....So Bring your big runs and your big poles and attempt Season Bests, PR’s and Qualifying Marks.

Dates are Sunday April 13, Sunday May 4 and Sunday May 25. All will be held at Granada High School in Livermore, Ca. with the Elite competitions starting sometime mid to late afternoon – when the tailwinds pick up.

You may sign up for one, two or all three. These are not all comers, however. You do need to register prior to arriving, but we will make accommodations for getting entry fees paid prior to the first meet (since it is only a few days away). Entry fees are $10.00 per meet.

If you are interested in competing, email me and I will send you the registration form in either Word or PDF versions. I do not have them up on the website as yet and I am missing a few email addresses, so please forward to anyone you think may be interested.

Please complete the registration form and return with entry fees to Tri-Valley Athletics, 91 Marcia Court, Livermore, Ca 94550.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call or email. You can contact me at 925-449-7966 or mdoggett@trivalleyathletics.com

What a great opportunity, thanks for putting these meets on

Livermore does not make a lot of sense to me? It seems as if a lot of pole vaulters are looking more for the fast tailwinds, down hill runways, and the favorable conditions instead of concentrating on their technical improvements to jump higher. We r getting more and more pole vault sites in the US that r producing inflated marks (marks much higher than the vaulters average). Livermore seems to be the new "hot" place. They claims monster tailwinds, fast runway (downhill?) to produce monster marks in order for athletes to jump a mark higher than they r capable of jumping. This is why the Europeans ignore a lot of US marks. They simply don't know how inflated they r. When you really look at it there r about 6-7 men and women that have a realistic chance of making the Olympic team. Or at least thats what the past has showed. To flood the field with more athletes ranked from 40-45th in the country just does not make sense. Outdoor track seems to be more about where you jump than how good you jump. So let the inflated marks start and people can produce jumps a foot higher than normal and then when the real meets come on level runways and normal regulation conditions we can all listen to the reasons (excuses) why they jumped a foot lower. In Oregon there prob. won't be an 18 mile an hour tail wind nor a fast as lightening runway, a 4 sided cross bar, or extended pegs. We just have to 'keep it real'.

big10jumper wrote:Livermore does not make a lot of sense to me? It seems as if a lot of pole vaulters are looking more for the fast tailwinds, down hill runways, and the favorable conditions instead of concentrating on their technical improvements to jump higher. We r getting more and more pole vault sites in the US that r producing inflated marks (marks much higher than the vaulters average). Livermore seems to be the new "hot" place. They claims monster tailwinds, fast runway (downhill?) to produce monster marks in order for athletes to jump a mark higher than they r capable of jumping. This is why the Europeans ignore a lot of US marks. They simply don't know how inflated they r. When you really look at it there r about 6-7 men and women that have a realistic chance of making the Olympic team. Or at least thats what the past has showed. To flood the field with more athletes ranked from 40-45th in the country just does not make sense. Outdoor track seems to be more about where you jump than how good you jump. So let the inflated marks start and people can produce jumps a foot higher than normal and then when the real meets come on level runways and normal regulation conditions we can all listen to the reasons (excuses) why they jumped a foot lower. In Oregon there prob. won't be an 18 mile an hour tail wind nor a fast as lightening runway, a 4 sided cross bar, or extended pegs. We just have to 'keep it real'.

I'm sure the United States is the only country that sets up runways in favorable places with excellent conditions

big10jumper wrote:Livermore does not make a lot of sense to me? It seems as if a lot of pole vaulters are looking more for the fast tailwinds, down hill runways, and the favorable conditions instead of concentrating on their technical improvements to jump higher. We r getting more and more pole vault sites in the US that r producing inflated marks (marks much higher than the vaulters average). Livermore seems to be the new "hot" place. They claims monster tailwinds, fast runway (downhill?) to produce monster marks in order for athletes to jump a mark higher than they r capable of jumping. This is why the Europeans ignore a lot of US marks. They simply don't know how inflated they r. When you really look at it there r about 6-7 men and women that have a realistic chance of making the Olympic team. Or at least thats what the past has showed. To flood the field with more athletes ranked from 40-45th in the country just does not make sense. Outdoor track seems to be more about where you jump than how good you jump. So let the inflated marks start and people can produce jumps a foot higher than normal and then when the real meets come on level runways and normal regulation conditions we can all listen to the reasons (excuses) why they jumped a foot lower. In Oregon there prob. won't be an 18 mile an hour tail wind nor a fast as lightening runway, a 4 sided cross bar, or extended pegs. We just have to 'keep it real'.

Lets not forget the 10inch deep box. I agree with you.

If you don't like jumping at Livermore, then don't come.

And for your information, it's a very legal facility.

Wow! Big10 jumper. My first question is, have you competed there? I assume since your comments were posted prior to the meet, you were not at the there on the 13th. That said. I was and I assure you that the facility is designed well, not just for the pole vault, but for all the events. And for the record, the environmental conditions were considered during the design of the facility, as was the layout of the entire track with 9 complete metric lanes, as I would hope was the case with all Track and Field facilities, though sadly it is not. Now since wind is a consideration the runway has a box at both ends to allow to set the facility for the best possible competition, as is the case with most well designed facilities. The runway runs East-West, which in the Livermore Amador Valley is often the direction of the wind, however for much of the day on of the 13th it was head to cross to tail. All to often “NORMALâ€