You get what you pay for with pole vault pits

[txpolevaulter_k25]

my school has one of those no-name brands and its falling apart, once i started jumping 13 i was getting bruises on my back from bottoming out...and my head coach decided to put the pit on pallets so after all the straps that hold it together broke, the matts started to seperate and i was hitting the pallets...i definetly would rather have tires, im gonna do that over the summer, thanks becca

make sure you tie all the tires together, or they will separate and make holes in you pit, and you will still land on the ground, we use duct tape

I would imagine big zip ties would work even better than duct tape.

i didnt know they made zip ties that big, where can you get them?

[rainbowgirl28]

my school has one of those no-name brands and its falling apart, once i started jumping 13 i was getting bruises on my back from bottoming out...and my head coach decided to put the pit on pallets so after all the straps that hold it together broke, the matts started to seperate and i was hitting the pallets...i definetly would rather have tires, im gonna do that over the summer, thanks becca

make sure you tie all the tires together, or they will separate and make holes in you pit, and you will still land on the ground, we use duct tape

I would imagine big zip ties would work even better than duct tape.

i didnt know they made zip ties that big, where can you get them?

Home Depot and the like. You might have to combine two or three zip ties to fit around the tires, but they make some pretty massive ones,

[txpolevaulter_k25]

good idea

[lonestar]

make sure you tie all the tires together, or they will separate and make holes in you pit, and you will still land on the ground, we use duct tape

You don't need to tie them together, just make sure you have enough of them so that they sit up against each other, and try to get them relatively all the same width to avoid high and low spots. We've never tied them together and we haven't had gaps in the pits created from them.

You should drill/cut holes in the bottom of the tires so water can escape, otherwise you'll be up to your ears in gnats and mosquitoes. A 1.5" hole saw bit works well, but get a powerful electric drill, you'll just eat through batteries on a cordless.

Tires are nice because they don't rot like pallets and actually get the pit up off the ground and away from water.

[spike gibeault]

yea, tires are a definate for next year, these pallets arent working out, good idea with the holes in them too, ill tell my coach