PoleVaultPower.com

With the 2009 indoor and outdoor seasons past, my friend and former vaulting mentor Gérard Dumas informs me that he has accomplished a career goal of a thousand competitions without including in that total any beach vaults or meets where he recorded no heights.

Now 74, Gérard has competed in a total of 1048 meets, 5 of those beach and 38 no-heights, leaving a total of 1005 officially recorded. A former French indoor champion, his career best was 4.53m in 1967.

Second in these stats is Germany’s Tim Lobinger, who has participated in 673 competitions, 8 of these exhibitions and 31 ho-heights, for an official total of 634 results. Lobinger, at age 37 still ranked 27th in the world in the 2009 outdoor season.

Including beach vaults and NHs, meet #1000 was at the Tacoma Freedom Fair Beach Vault a few years ago. I was honored

Gérard is quite an amazing guy. I first met him when I was in HS, and he was an "old" 30-ish vaulter. I thought he was nearing the end of his career ... little did I know that he was less than half way! We competed in about a dozen meets together, and if I recall, I think he beat me the majority of the time. If you want the exact stats on our head-to-head W/L record, you'll have to ask him ... he's also quite the statistician!

Referring to his own "Who's Who in Pole Vault III" book, I see that Cornelius Warmerdam had 75 results, from age 14-61 ... and Bob Richards had 304 results, from ages 12-37. Each one of these results is documented in his book. Gérard's heights might not have been as remarkable as these legends, but in terms of longevity as a vaulter, he has them beat ... by a long shot!

To reach this remarkable achievement (according to the WWIPV3 foreword by roger/over), Gérard "accomplished at least one vault competition in each year since 1948 ... 963 meets and counting." This was a few years ago ... and about 50 meets ago!

Quick story: About 5 years ago, I watched him compete at a Master's meet in Vancouver. He was complaining that he was a bit tired that day, so wasn't vaulting his best. I asked him why, and he told me that he'd just hiked up to the peak of Mt. Ranier (14,411 feet, 4,392m) the day before! I don't think 2009 is the last we'll hear from this Masters super-star!

Kirk

Congratulations Gérard. I'm still looking forward to meeting you in person. Emails aren't quite adequate. Will you be at Kamloops?

- master

He has a mind like a steel trap. I see him once twice a year and he remembers my kids names and birthdays. I can hardly do that!!

I would also like to congratulate you Gerard. You have been and continue to be a great inspiration to me. To put this into some perspective just imagine vaulting in 20 meets in a year for 50 years to get to 1000. Even in my prime I am not sure I ever did many more than 20 meets in a year and of course after college, meets were harder to line up. So to do 20 meets a year is hard enough but to do it for 50 years, is hard to imagine. Now I know that Gerard has been vaulting for longer than 50 years so many of those years he did not have to do 20 meets but it is still mind boggling. I am not sure how long he has been vaulting but I know he has been vaulting for a very long time which in itself is amazing. Well done
Vault On

vaultwest wrote: ... I am not sure how long he has been vaulting but I know he has been vaulting for a very long time which in itself is amazing.

From his own modest auto-bio in WWIP3 ...

Dumas, Gerard. (FRA-CAN). Born: 11.03.1935. Paris, France. 1.72M. 64KGS. Mediocre pole vaulter who competed for 59 consecutive years. French Junior Champion in 1952. He was instrumental in the development of women pole vaulting in Canada, which event he promoted as early as the late sixties. Statistician, coach. He used metal until 1964. He is married to Lesley and lives in Victoria, BC.

Since he's been vaulting since 1948, that puts him at about 13 when he started. Add 59 to that, and that's about the year WWIP3 was printed - 2007. 1935+13+59=2007. Add years 2008-2009, and he's been vaulting for about 61 or 62 years!

Kirk