A vaulter’s Field of Dreams: His own backyard runway
Mike “Souleman” Soule is a vaulter in his mid-50s up in Minnesota who built his own Field of Dreams — a lighted backyard vault runway leading to a pit surrounded by beautiful trees. Doug “Bubba” Sparks of Texas, another case of arrested development, is a vaulter who fans the flames of the pole-jumping geeks by posting pictures of their setups on his Web site. Check out the Soule series here. Soule may not jump as high as the kiddies, but he’s head and shoulders above them in landscaping and building skills. No elite vaulter has a set-up as nice as Mike’s in Wyoming, Minnesota. Cost of runway: $686. Cost of pit, home-made standards and crossbar: $475. Being able to step out the door and vault in your own back yard: priceless.
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I wondered where pole vaulters found places to train. Schools are so concerned about liability that many facilities are closed to us (at least to throwers, vaulters, and high jumpers)
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