Putting Pit in my backyard!

[sdvaulter06]

The school is going to let me borrow some old mats for the summer and I am going to put them in my backyard! I have a pretty big back yard so it will fit good! I was wondering if anyone else does and how do I get a smooth as possible runway? I have a 100' 1/2" thick black rubber mat that we run on to use! Any Ideas? THanks! Lance

[blazerunner121]

oh gosh, so lucky of u.

[1yeldud1]

If the ground is close to being flat you can roll out the rubber runway on the grass. To provide a smoother surface you can place a material like plywood ar ox board under the runway to make it smoother. On our outdoor pits we used small pea gravel enclosed in a runway made of timbers to make our 90 ft. runway.

[Vaulterchick88]

haha! our school had some old high jump pits they were going to throw away so we went down to school one night and me, kiel and his dad puts these three gigatic pits on top of their tiny truck, it was the funniest thing i have ever seen in my life. Kiel is just going to use them for drills because there are only three so it's really not safe to try and vault on them.

[blazerunner121]

haha! our school had some old high jump pits they were going to throw away so we went down to school one night and me, kiel and his dad puts these three gigatic pits on top of their tiny truck, it was the funniest thing i have ever seen in my life. Kiel is just going to use them for drills because there are only three so it's really not safe to try and vault on them.

so u guyz just took them? anyone notice?

[Vaulterchick88]

haha! our school had some old high jump pits they were going to throw away so we went down to school one night and me, kiel and his dad puts these three gigatic pits on top of their tiny truck, it was the funniest thing i have ever seen in my life. Kiel is just going to use them for drills because there are only three so it's really not safe to try and vault on them.

so u guyz just took them? anyone notice?

we had permission from our coach and the guy that runs the NE athletic complex. He said it just saved him a dump order.

[Russ]

I use a roll out rubber runway. It works fine.

I have a problem with mice, though. I let my cat out once or twice a day , and I put moth balls inderneath the pit (in the tires that are under the pit).

[1yeldud1]

Russ do you still have a problem with mice ??????? I was the one who told you last year to use moth balls and mice poision. We place ours in plastic bowls under the mats scatterd around the preimeter of the mats ( we use 2 to 3 boxes of both items ) and we just moved our mats 2 nights ago. These mats have not been moved for 18 months. We had NO sign of mice under our mats. We did have a ground hog try to make a home there though. ( he is now in ground hog heavan ) We live in the country and have our mats in a barn near the animal feed so I KNOW mice are in this barn. We use this same technique to keep mice out of our fishing and ski boats.

[lilspike333]

My friend has a whole pole vault set-up in her backyard. The land isn't flat so in some spots the runway is raised like 5 feet above the ground! It's kinda scary until you get used to it. She also has a flece(sp?) cover that goes over the mats, it feels so nice to land on them.

[mfs9]

I would love to have a pit in my back yard... not sure if I have enough room though... and I would probably use it so much I'd end up hurting myself

[tim hutzley]

My avatar is the pit in my coaches backyard, we got a big conveyer belt for the runway Its a little uneven but its better than dirt and the pit is full of dirt but atleast I get to jump. There are more pics of it at dustpvc.com but I dont think there are any of the whole setup.

[Russ]

Yea, I still have a few mice. I suppose that I'll need to replenish the moth balls. In the meanwhile, my cat has killed 3 in the past week. She's happy.

I have not used poison, though, I'd prefer not to poison my cat indirectly and not to have DEAD mice under the pit.