PoleVaultPower.com

What: Autograph session with many of our top vaulters
Where: My room at the Pole Vault Summit Room 1046 West Tower
When: Friday, January 29. 7:45 to 8:15am
Goody bags: Yes! There will be goody bags for the first 30 people to show up.

There will be a donation fishbowl at the door. All money donated will be split between the athletes that show up and sign autographs.

If you won't be there, or if you want to donate ahead of time, send me a PM or email becca@polevaultpower.com and I will tell you how you can donate. I will update the totals here. Let me know if you want to be anonymous, otherwise I will say who has donated. If you're going to donate at Reno, I prefer cash (so I can easily split it among the athletes) so if you want to do a check or card, talk to me in advance so I can withdraw enough cash.

If you want to donate something to the goody bags, send me a note as well. Fuzion Athletics has already promised some sweet gear (and they have AWESOME stuff every year).

If you are an athlete who would like to come and sign autographs, let me know! You have to have finished your collegiate eligibility to get $$. I'll have some food and coffee up there (for the athletes only).

Oh also, last year we raised almost $700 which was split between the athletes. I would love to see that number higher this year!

I would like to personally say thank you to Becca and all that helped last year. Mary Saxer was one of the vaulters who benefited from this last year and I'm sure her and Mark Hollis will both take part this year. These athletes get little to no support from the outside community. During many of my conversations with local businesses and individuals I really try to relay to them that Track and Field for the most part is still an amateur based sport with no professional organization to support and help those trying to make it. There is no League or minors all their efforts come straight from their pocket books.

For the young vaulters, parents and fans this is an excellent chance to meet these vaulters and possible hear a few stories, get an autograph and maybe find someone to look up too. I really hope in the years to come this turns into an event that the pole vault community forces Becca to rent a conference room just to support the number of fans that wish to come through to show their support for these athletes.

Becca and all the individuals who donated prizes thanks again for everything you do.

OK so far we are at $275 thanks to generous donations from Bruce Caldwell, Bubba Sparks, and Phil Milliman.

So far the goody bags will include a pole protector from ESSX, lanyards from trackandfieldstuff.com, swag from Fuzion Athletics, and lots of interesting catalogs and brochures!

It's not too late to donate, just send your donation to paypal@polevaultpower.com

The location of the signing will be posted tomorrow morning when I get in to Reno

Oh yeah athletes making appearances will include Mark Hollis, Mary Saxer, Erica Bartolina and Jeff Coover!

Room 1046 WEST Tower

I have a HUGE room, about twice the size of last year!

The goody bags will also include York Beach Vault T-shirts and some cool stickers including a Derek Miles sticker from Gill Athletics.

Thanks to everyone who came out! We raised $703.35 I'll try to post some pictures on Facebook later.

Athletes who attended were:
Mary Saxer
Erica Bartolina
Mark Hollis
Brandon Estrada
Jeff Coover
Darren Nidermeyer
Paul Litchfield
Jordan Scott

We raised just over $700, and Jordan can't take money since he is still in college so everyone else ended up with $100

What a great idea! Will you be doing this again at the upcoming vault summit?

somechick wrote:What a great idea! Will you be doing this again at the upcoming vault summit?

Probably not, it's gotten more difficult now that I have a baby running around. I'll think about it as the date gets closer and I know if I have family coming with me to help or not.

Where does all the money go that people pay for the summit anyway?

There are around a thousand or so vaulters. There is an entry fee. Most sports that run an event like this, the main manufacture would be the event sponsor and should take a little of a loss on the event, and the pay out is press from a great event, people wanting to buy mats and UCS poles.

I know they have to rent the venue. But couldn't the event sponsors pay out a prize for the top vaulters. It is one of the largest pole vault events in the world, you would think the winner would be able to get a nice little chunk of change out of it.

just my .02.....