There are several things to watch out for. The first is the lay of the ground in general. Some runways are uphill or downhill, and it is very hard to tell by just looking at them. One of the best methods is to find the location of the track's area drains. If the runway is running directly away from the drainage system it will be going uphill no matter what. Another technique is to look at the runway like reading a putt in golf. Examine it from both ends. If it looks uphill from one end and level, or even downhill, from the other end, the runway is level, and it is the ground around it that is not. If it looks the same from both ends, the runway is the problem.
The next thing to check out is the box. Find out if its measurements are standard, and then look at how it is set into the ground. If it is tilted to one side or too deep or too shallow, it will have a dramatic impact on how your pole moves and the timing of your jump. The depth of the box is the most common problem, and it is a big one. An inch deeper box means you will have to jump on a pole two sizes larger than you normally would. An inch shallower box means just the opposite. This is sometimes why you can jump on your biggest poles so easily at one meet and then not get on your smallest poles at the next. Also check to see if the box is cracked or warped. A damaged box can be as dangerous as a damaged pole. Don't use it. Pat Manson and I almost got killed in a meet in Romania because there was a small dent in the bottom of the box that we hadn't noticed. On every other jump, our poles would hit that dent and then bounce completely out and hit against the side of the pit. We had to withdraw from the meet and got beat by the two Romanian jumpers who were used to the facility and knew how avoid the damaged part of the box.
Third, look at the pit and the box collar. If they are set too close to the box, they will interfere with the bend of the pole causing it to recoil too soon. There is little you can do to change a bad runway or box, but there is no reason the pit can't be set right before warm-ups start. The earlier the officials are made aware of the problem, the more likely it is that the issue will be fixed. It is always a good idea to offer to help. Two or three overworked officials are not capable of moving a pit by themselves anyway.
Finally, be aware of issues surrounding the depth of the standards. Standards are almost never zeroed in accurately. They can be off by several inches to start with, depending on how careful and competent the officials are in placing them. Compounding this problem is the fact that almost all standards are warped slightly. The higher the bar gets, the further it actually is from where it ought to be according to the measurements at the base. To make matters even worse, most pits move slightly backwards as a competition progresses. They can move as much as six inches in the course of one meet. If the measurements for the depth of the standards are on the base protectors, this means that these marks are moving backwards throughout the meet as well. The best strategy to deal with these problems is to learn to hold your pole straight up in the box and look at the distance between it and the bar. After several years of this, you will be able to eyeball the depth of the bar fairly accurately. Even if you don't know exactly what it is supposed to look like, you can certainly know what it is not supposed to look like. If the standards say the bar is on 60, and your pole is almost touching it, something is wrong. Another good idea is to place a small piece of tape even with the front edge of the base protectors before warm-ups begin. If they move away from this mark during the meet, change your standard placement accordingly.
