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We had our conference meet friday, it was raining, and just about half the vaulters there were slippin on their poles. Didn't look to healthy. When i'm vaulting, the last thing i want on my mind is being able to hold onto the pole.

yes and no....if its really raining, then no vaulting. i was at lindenwoods conference meet the other week, and there were too many people losing their grips. becca retaped her pole i think 3 times.

but if its only drizzling, you just keep a towel around it, or keep the grip area in a garbage bag, and you're usually okay. i've had plenty of meets like that...

Heh it was more than 3 times. Anytime my pole hit the pit (which was soaked) or the ground (which was soaked) I had to retape it.

You should always keep towels, garbage bags, and extra tape with you. As long as it is not raining HARD, you can vault successfully in the rain, but you HAVE to keep that grip dry.

yeah, definatley be prepared. i think chalk works well in rain as well

i say for the most part, that u can vault in the rain as long as u just keep the grip dry but too many people don't and another thing is that rain postpones and delays the even and some people will be vaulting and others have gotten out but aren't allowed to the make up meet where it is nicer. if it is to rain during competition I say run it through to the end because last year at the NY State championships the guys had 80 degrees and a tail wind then the girls the nextday had a headwind and cold rain and they vaulted. I say vault in the rain has to be done once a competition has started to be fair to all.

Jumping in the rain is alright, I find it takes your mind off of all of the little things that will screw you up. I have had 3 or 4 important meets where I had to jump in the rain, I kept my grip dry with a towel and a little chalk, and things went well. I would definately take it easy though if you arent comfortable with jumping in the rain, because you are more likely to hurt yourself.

Skyin' Brian wrote:yeah, definatley be prepared. i think chalk works well in rain as well

Really? The couple of times I tried it, the chalk got really slimy when it got wet. I prefer sticky in the rain.

The chalk can help if the pole is just slightly damp, but not really wet enough to warrant a retaping.

one meet it was pourin down, and it was windy, i took one jump at 10 feet, coach said i was over 2 feet over it, on my 10.6 attempt i missed all 3. then at the next meet, it was at least 50 degrees, maybe 60, and only rainin alittle bit, and just the pole-vault was canceled. i say yes to vaulting in the rain. if you dont wanna jump ya dont have to, i think the vaulter should be able to make the choice.

Back in 82' it was raining so hard at my state meet that when you landed on the pit you landed in 2 feet of water. No joke. It should have been postponed. Three years ago it was raining at an AAU regional meet - because of safety concerns and time the meet officials called off the vault and auto. qualified all vaulters to the national meet.

thats how it was at Mt Sac this year. you would land and all the water would eat you and it was cold water too. And then it had grass and stuff on it from our shoes so you would get of the pit soaked and covered in grass.

its okay to vault in light to moderate rain as long as people wear spikes so that they dont' slip. vaulting in heavy rain is absurd. i wouldn't want sheets of rain pounding my face especially if the wind blew against me.