Wolfgang Ritte sets M60 outdoor World Record

[master]

It was only a matter of time (and not much time at that) before Wolfgang would set the M60 age group record. He did it in style with the jump as seen in this video http://www.evaa.ch/files/movies/WolfgangRitte_Wipperfuerth.mov
vaulting 4.11m, improving the record by 7cm!
Congratulations Wolfgang!

(for the moment, there is a post about this on the WMA web site http://www.world-masters-athletics.org/)

[GasPasser]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing & Congrats Wolfgang!

[larry d]

Does anyone know how John Altendorf is doing after his fall and serious concussion a few weeks or so ago ?
His name was missing from the entrants in the National Championships in Kansas when I looked just a day or two before the deadline date.
Larry d

[vaultmd]

I was unaware that John was injured. What happened?

[master]

I had intended to make an update post about Wolfgang's amazing feats a while back. I didn't get to it then so here it is now. As Wolfgang wrote in an email, in May he was competing in ideal conditions. As he progressed and was ready to attempt to improve his WR, he had the bar set to 4.12, a modest improvement. That he made on the first attempt. So then he went bold setting the bar at 4.22. He had been advised to go up a pole and it took him two attempts to adjust. He made that height on his third attempt. So with that under his belt he asked for 4.32 and made it on his first attempt. Truly amazing! Video on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6eU5zmJPDU

As for my concussion and how I'm doing, the short story is I started back vaulting from a short approach two weeks ago. I'm able to vault but have lost a lot of conditioning. A longer version of the story is available on my web site http://www.plvlt.com.

To add a bit of fun here, a week ago I opened a fortune cookie to read......
"Keep in close touch with what your competition is doing."

Soooo.... Whasup???

[artparry]

Good to hear you were not injured to bad and are on your way back. We need all of the old guys out there jumping like they were still "kids." I think it puts pressure on the high schooler's! Hopefully you will be able to get in at least a couple of outdoor meets this summer. I have been experiencing some issues also. Out of nowhere I also started experiencing vertigo and dizziness. It has been going on since January. I am dealing with the vertigo better now than several months ago. I don't know if it is because I am getting use to it or if it is subsiding. I also tore my meniscus in two locations in my left knee in late April. It happened during a vault. I had a good plant and take off but as soon as I left the ground I felt a sharp pain in my knee. And that was that. I had surgery about 6 weeks ago to trim up the meniscus. The doctor said everything went well. However, I am not healing well. I'm a tough old guy but I am still dealing with a lot of swelling and pain. As I always say it is not life threating so no big deal. Anyway glad to hear you are doing well and back in training. Take care.

Art