Old Poles

[TylerPorter11]

Im fixing to try jumping on a 15' 175, the problem is that the pole is about 20 years old. Is this safe? Should I give it a shot?

[powerplant42]

As long as there is no noticeable damage (or WARPING), and you suspect that it's been treated well for the past 20 years, go for it. Maybe just do Jagodins (no swing) on it for a while until your confident it won't break?

I've got poles from the late 70's (I think?) to use! A Pacer III (cracked at the top though and no tip, so I guess I won't really be using it much), and a decently good looking yellow CataPole!

[TylerPorter11]

Nice!!

Those poles sound beastly haha

I will definately try some stalls on it though... Thanks!

[KirkB]

Hmm... another BAD reason to do jagodins!

There's 2 reasons why a pole will break ...

1. If the bend exceeds its elastic limit (over-bending)
2. If it has a flaw ... due to a manufacturing flaw (unlikely these days) ... or due to damage done to it.

In your case, you're mostly worried about damage due to "aging". Normally, expansion and contraction due to heat fluctuations shouldn't cause any damage, but after 20 years, who knows what might have happened to the resin that holds the fibers together. Experts on PVP may tell you that the resin doesn't break down over time any more than the fibers do, but I understand your concern. If I were you, I'd want to test the pole out before I used it too.

First, check every square inch of the pole visually, and by running your fingers along every part of it, feeling for nicks or scratches. Be sure to remove any old tape and look underneath it.

Next, try to bend the hell out of the pole by putting the tip against a wall at ground level, then grip at the top with your normal "top hand", and put all your body weight into it ... HEAVING ... and PULLING ... yourself towards the wall. You should be facing AWAY from the wall when you do this. If you don't think it's bending enough, ask someone heavier/stronger than you to try. You should NOT try to exceed the elastic limit of the pole (or of course it will break), but it's unlikely that you'll bend it that much this way if the pole is heavier than you are.

If you break it this way, then there's no downside ... you've broken it in a controlled setting, and the worst that will happen is that you'll fall on your a$$. It's certainly better than breaking it in the middle of a jagodin or a real vault ... where you'll have gravity and your forwards momentum to worry about. No sense putting yourself in danger there.

If you DON'T break it this way, then at least you know it's safe enough to vault on with as much bend as you gave it against the wall. That still doesn't guarantee that it won't break during a real vault, but at least in a real vault, you're likely to have sufficient momentum (and sufficient bend) to land "safely" in the pit. I put "safely" in quotes, because there's no guarantee that you'll ever land safely ... EVER.

I've broken many poles and landed safely, but I've also cut my hand on a broken pole segment as I was landing "safely" in the pit. You have a risk of injury on every vault you take, so that shouldn't stop you.

One thing I can say for sure is that I'd rather break the pole on a full vault and land in the pit than break it during a jagodin and land on the runway or in the box! You need to realize (you too, PP) that if you break it doing a jagodin, you won't land on your feet ... you'll land on your back ... possibly hitting the back of your head ... or worse yet, you could land directly onto your head ... on the runway!

Kirk

EDIT: Deleted the sentence re an unlikely "worst-case" scenario. No sense in scare-mongering!

[Noah C]

Yeah Definitely check that pole out! I was jumping at a meet at our local college, and I was blowing through my biggest pole BAD (sweet tail wind and fast mondo track runway) So the pole vault coach went to the shed and got me a 14'9 180 old old old old altius pole. I semi checked it out and it seemed fine. First attempt on it I snapped it all up. It broke right about the sail piece into two pieces and I think there could have been a hairline crack in the pole right there. Its hard to tell. But ever since then I've been weary of jumping on old poles or poles that I don't personally know their whole life story.

[rainbowgirl28]

Im fixing to try jumping on a 15' 175, the problem is that the pole is about 20 years old. Is this safe? Should I give it a shot?

What brand is it? Some seem to age a little better than others, but it's probably fine, it just might have a bit heavier carry weight than more modern poles.

Before you use it, take off all the old tape and check carefully for scratches. If the decorative wrap is peeling you might want to peel that off and look for scratches underneath.

Unless it has been left in the sun for extended periods of time or damaged (scratched, dinged, etc), it should be fine, assuming that is the right size pole you need.

[TylerPorter11]

It's mega-heavy, a pacer III. It's a beast.

I think im going to check out it out today before practice.

[rainbowgirl28]

It's mega-heavy, a pacer III. It's a beast.

I think im going to check out it out today before practice.

How did it work out for you? Pacer IIIs are good poles, might just feel a little heavy compared to the newest poles. If it was well taken care of, there is no reason it shouldn't be usable.