PoleVaultPower.com

http://classic.lagniappemobile.com/arti ... 688&SID=29


Get your pole out and vault downtown
By Johnny Davis
Issue# 235
JULY 12, 2011



Serving as Lagniappe’s Sports Dude for a good two years now, I recognize that it’s hard to get people around here to care about anything that isn’t football. There’s only so many ways you can proclaim Nick Saban a deity and paint Cam Newton as the anti-Christ, so every now and then I try to venture into other areas of the sports world.

I’ve strayed off the beaten path in some pretty far-out areas, such as women’s weightlifting, rugby and sailing, but I think this one can top ‘em all: pole vaulting.

On July 23, downtown Mobile will host the first annual Dauphin Street Vault. One of the organizers, Drew Bentley, who also serves as McGill-Toolen’s track and field coach, called it a "spectacle” that local fans won’t want to miss. According to Bentley, some of the country’s best pole vaulters will hit downtown to put on a competition/exhibition like Mobtown has never seen before. The event will take place on Dauphin Street in between Jackson Street and Joachim Street. The festivities will get started at 2 p.m. and will run throughout the afternoon and evening. At 7:30 p.m., the "elite” pole vaulters will get started. A professional deejay/announcer will be emceeing the event.

Bentley expects around 70 pole vaulters to be involved, some of them athletes who competed locally before moving on to greater heights. (See what I did there? Greater heights, eh?) Some of the other athletes will be stars from the national high school and collegiate level, and Bentley even promises pole vaulters who compete professionally overseas. I had no idea that pole vaulting was done on a professional level, but Bentley says it’s huge in Europe.

I guess it’s kind of like soccer and David Hasselhoff. Americans don’t really get it, but Europeans eat it up. Bentley says it will be more than just a pole-vaulting event, though; he says it will be a "big party.” If you’re reading a publication as awesome as Lagniappe, then you probably like to party, so hey, there’s probably a good chance you could have a fun time on this Saturday night.

The event is free and open to the public. For information, visit www.highvaultageevents.com or find the Dauphin Street Vault event page on Facebook. For an idea of what the event might be like, Bentley recommends searching "Clovis Street Vault” on YouTube.

A busy night for Mobile
If you’re looking for something sports-related to do July 23, you’re going to have plenty of options. Not only will Mobile be hosting the pole-vaulting extravaganza, there will be sporty stuff all over town. That night in the Mobile Civic Center, there will be a monster truck show with the fitting title of "Monster Jam.” Over at Hank Aaron Stadium that night, one of the local roller derby teams, Mobile’s Derby Darlings, will make an appearance. Mobile’s minor league baseball team, the BayBears, will play a game against the Birmingham Barons, while the Derby Darlings will be promoting their next bout July 30.

Mobile may not be the most happenin’ town on the scene, but for one night — between pole vaulting, monster trucks, baseball and chicks on roller skates — you ought to be able to find something worth screaming a "Roll Damn Tide!” at.

http://blog.al.com/live/2011/07/pole_va ... ne_in.html


Pole vaulters go airborne on Mobile's Dauphin Street (photos, video)
Published: Sunday, July 24, 2011, 9:26 AM Updated: Monday, July 25, 2011, 2:31 PM
By Dan Murtaugh, Press-Register


Jenna Fowlkes of Mobile pole vaulted for Murphy H.S. and University of South Alabama during the 1st Annual Dauphin St. Street Vault on Saturday July 23, 2011 vaulters in every experience level took to Dauphin St. in historic downtown Mobile, AL, to put on a Pole Vault exhibition. (Press-Register, Kate Mercer)
Dauphin Street Pole Vault gallery (8 photos)

MOBILE, Alabama -- Andy Terry was standing in front of Grand Central on Dauphin Street Saturday afternoon when a teenager started sprinting toward him with a 20-foot-long pole in his hands.

Just before reaching Terry, the teen thrust his pole into the ground. The momentum bowed the pole, and the teen jumped just as it snapped. The energy hurtled the boy high above a bar, and he landed with a poof of dust on a pad laid out in the middle of the road.

Terry let out a whoop.

“When you mix pole vaulting, bars, beers and music, you’ve got a good time,” he said.

Terry was watching the first Dauphin Street Vault, an event its organizers hope becomes a recurring affair.

More than 70 athletes came to downtown Mobile to compete in the event. The city closed the street to car traffic, and organizers laid out a track, a bar and a landing pad in the middle of the road for the vaulters.

Vaulters started jumping at about 2 p.m. and kept going well past sunset. The rain stayed away all day, and by the end, several hundred people had gathered to watch.

“We knew we would have a good crowd,” said Matt Vogtner, one of the organizers. “But even we’re surprised how good it’s been.”

During the day, the competition was open to anyone who registered. Most of the athletes were youngsters, and they came from as far away as Texas and Louisiana to take part.

Lyndell Farmer, 60, who coaches at St. Paul’s and has been vaulting for about 50 years, was the most experienced vaulter during the day. Saturday was the first street vault he participated in. He said the rock music and close proximity to the crowd heightened the intensity of the event.

“It gets you pumped up,” he said. “Everybody likes to show off.”

Terry, the spectator, said he rarely visits downtown, but was drawn by the unusual nature of the event.

That was the kind of reaction that city officials and downtown business owners were hoping the event would elicit.

With the exception of one restaurateur who complained that the event was blocking traffic, business owners along Dauphin Street said they got a boost in sales and exposure from the vault.

Max Morey, one of the owners of the Crescent Theater, said his Saturday matinee crowd was much larger than usual. He said he saw many of the theater-goers sitting in the vault crowd afterward.

Mike Piercy, owner of Pat’s Downtown, opened his bar hours earlier than normal and sold beer, water and Gatorade to those sitting in attendance. He said it was good to see a buoyant crowd in the middle of the day, especially just a week after a nonfatal shooting nearby.

“In light of the stuff that happened last week, this is a nice little breath of fresh air for downtown,“ Piercy said. “I wish we had more things like this to get people downtown.“

Carol Hunter, spokeswoman for the Downtown Mobile Alliance, said the event showed off the versatility of downtown Mobile.

“You can host a track event in the middle of the street, have balconies to provide a great vantage point, and provide restaurants within walking distance for all the fans to dine in,” she said. “There’s just not many places you could do this except downtown.”


Dauphin Street Vault
MOBILE, Alabama -- Pole vaulters turned out on lower Dauphin Street in Mobile on Saturday, July 23, 2011, for the Dauphin Street Vault. A section of the street was shut down in the entertainment district and the vaulters ran down an elevated wooden runway before vaulting. The vent was put on as a way to bring crowds to downtown Mobile during a time year that normally is not busy.