Straddler David Montieth corrects the record: No new M70 record
Rob Jerome photo of David in 2016.
Update. Results site flubbed, and Perth world champion David Montieth didn’t set an American record as first reported. See his comment below. Here’s original post FYI: A season after setting M70 American record indoors and out, David cleared 1.55 (5-1) Sunday to boost the indoor best of 1.53 (5-0¼). He made that mark at the USATF Connecticut Open and Masters Championships in New Haven. (See results here.) The Ridgefield jumper now can set his sights on the all-time M70 HJ best of 1.59 (5-2 1/2) by Sweden’s Carl-Erik Särndal, who cleared that height indoors and out. Special thanks to Curtis Morgan for news of this impressive leap. “Dave has a HJ pit in his basement (he tells me),” Curtis writes. “He is a former small college All-America at Wabash College, Indiana, in the 1960s.” Here’s his jump from a year ago:
Congrats David! I think my friend Tom Foley captured that video by the way.
Michael – straddlers don’t need that much of a landing pit. I constructed a basement pit for myself a few years ago out of small polyurethane foam squares. My my wife sewed them into some old bed sheets to create several oversized “pillows”. Works great when I’m in straddle mode….not so good for flop mode though.
Steve Morris - February 10, 2017
My good friend Mardon Connolly had a pole vault pit in his small backyard when he lived in North Hollywood, Ca. He would run along side his house then make a SHARP left turn then a SHARP right turn and then STRAIGHT to the pit. His neighbors, while sipping their pina coladas, would look up and say ” Is it a bird or a plane? No it’s just Mardon soaring through the tree branches on his old oak tree!”
Michael D Walker - February 10, 2017
Matt, I agree, for a straddler, the pit can be pretty small but you also need space for the approach run. Of course, I live in the south and the few basements in homes are very small.
Michael, yes room for the approach is probably a bigger challenge. I only have room for 3 or 4 steps and it’s a close shave near the furnace and water heater, ha. It looks like David uses a 6-step approach. Even if he could only use a partial approach in his basement, the practice would still give him a leg up (pun intended) on his competitors.
This is not nice jumping, Weia :-). This is tremendous performance! And we know how hard it is to get there. So David: My sincere admiration. I whish I could do so well. But aging is not to stop. How hard I would ever try. And I did. We organize in Germany a HJ-Week for M60 and older, with three competitions (13-19 July). You are invited to come. Cheers! Thomas
Hi Coach Z!! So great to see your post here!! I’ll have to send you an email soon to catch up. I think our travel budget this year will be shot going to WMG in New Zealand, but I hope someone might post some video of the HJ Week you mentioned.
Guys – Thomas’ guidance and encouragement helped me to gain some understanding of the straddle technique and even some rudimentary skills. I have used both techniques in major competition and am proud to be a part-time straddler :-).
Weia Reinboud - February 10, 2017
A high jump WEEK for masters jumpers, wow! Only men?
You know, I like women, but there will be just 3 small meetings, may be with some youngster competition. My old dream is to have several opportunities to make record – though this year I’m afraid, it will rather be for Carl-Eric or Carlo.
Matts tech is at the level of Carl-Eric or David. To improve, they had to work as hard as I did. And this is too much – even for me. :-)))
David Montieth - February 10, 2017
Thanks everyone for your kind words, especially from my HJ idol, Thomas Zacharias! Unfortunately, the 1.55m mark was an error. I only cleared 1.50m so I immediately reported it to USATF. Thus my indoor 1.53m still stands – hopefully I can clear 1.55 or better at the Indoor U.S. Championship in Albuquerque on Feb. 18. Thomas I would love to join your group this summer but that is the weekend of the USATF Outdoor Championship where I desire to extend my 1.58m U.S. record to a World Record of 1.60m. It must happen soon as my fight with the downward bell shaped age curve looms heavy. I will be spending many hours of prep in my basement! Cheers!
In other years I only was thinking on my self and the record to beat. Now I got humble and feel strong solidarity with my crazy HJ-fellows, whishing the best (results) to who ever has taken the chalange to fight terrestral attraction (gravity) and that “tooth of time” which is gnawing our bones. So – if David makes 1m60 or Carl-Eric keeps unsurmoutable – I will be happy for them, I will marvel at them anyway as heroes, just trying to be one of them. Hard days are to come. And not because of Don Trumple. The global warm up is due to thousends of Masters getting hot on tracks & fields. Yeah!LOL
Weia Reinboud - February 11, 2017
Nasty gravity… Last week I nearly jumped 1.40, but technically it was quite poor. But I regained the interest in the high jump, last year I had lost it for some four months!
Randy Harris - February 11, 2017
Congratulations David. Very impressive to say the least.
Milan Jamrich - February 12, 2017
Thomas,
how do we contact you about the July meetings? email?
Mike Travers - February 12, 2017
Mr. Montiethis is a regular at our NE Association meet and East Regional. He’s a class act.
Hi, Milan!! Always the same few unbrakable fellows! Contact is: zacharias@magic-lanzarote.net
Weia!! 1m40 is unbelievable. Greate, greate! Not so my 1m51 yesterday. My tech got lost.
David. I see this bell line in its worse section, near to vertikal here…
David Montieth - February 21, 2017
Thomas,
Yes, I too was surprised by my vertical position in this photo. I need to focus on not leaning into the bar on take off. And to improve my timing I need to watch the bar as I rotate – prior to your videos I had never considered this. Thanks again for sharing your techniques!
Ken has followed track as an athlete, writer and web-master since the late 1960s, and saw most sessions of track and field at the 1984 Los Angeles and 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He also attended the 1988, 1992, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Trials, the last three as a blogger and Patch correspondent. [More...]
23 Responses
Nice jumping!
Very impressive.
How big is his basement if a pit can fit?
Congrats David! I think my friend Tom Foley captured that video by the way.
Michael – straddlers don’t need that much of a landing pit. I constructed a basement pit for myself a few years ago out of small polyurethane foam squares. My my wife sewed them into some old bed sheets to create several oversized “pillows”. Works great when I’m in straddle mode….not so good for flop mode though.
My good friend Mardon Connolly had a pole vault pit in his small backyard when he lived in North Hollywood, Ca. He would run along side his house then make a SHARP left turn then a SHARP right turn and then STRAIGHT to the pit. His neighbors, while sipping their pina coladas, would look up and say ” Is it a bird or a plane? No it’s just Mardon soaring through the tree branches on his old oak tree!”
Matt, I agree, for a straddler, the pit can be pretty small but you also need space for the approach run. Of course, I live in the south and the few basements in homes are very small.
Michael, yes room for the approach is probably a bigger challenge. I only have room for 3 or 4 steps and it’s a close shave near the furnace and water heater, ha. It looks like David uses a 6-step approach. Even if he could only use a partial approach in his basement, the practice would still give him a leg up (pun intended) on his competitors.
This is not nice jumping, Weia :-). This is tremendous performance! And we know how hard it is to get there. So David: My sincere admiration. I whish I could do so well. But aging is not to stop. How hard I would ever try. And I did. We organize in Germany a HJ-Week for M60 and older, with three competitions (13-19 July). You are invited to come. Cheers! Thomas
And Matt and who ever feels friend of crazy jumpers.
And Jim, off cause. I hope they will all come. Our fellow Dieter Koehl organizes the event with me.
Contact me for details.
Hi Coach Z!! So great to see your post here!! I’ll have to send you an email soon to catch up. I think our travel budget this year will be shot going to WMG in New Zealand, but I hope someone might post some video of the HJ Week you mentioned.
Guys – Thomas’ guidance and encouragement helped me to gain some understanding of the straddle technique and even some rudimentary skills. I have used both techniques in major competition and am proud to be a part-time straddler :-).
A high jump WEEK for masters jumpers, wow! Only men?
You know, I like women, but there will be just 3 small meetings, may be with some youngster competition. My old dream is to have several opportunities to make record – though this year I’m afraid, it will rather be for Carl-Eric or Carlo.
Matts tech is at the level of Carl-Eric or David. To improve, they had to work as hard as I did. And this is too much – even for me. :-)))
Thanks everyone for your kind words, especially from my HJ idol, Thomas Zacharias! Unfortunately, the 1.55m mark was an error. I only cleared 1.50m so I immediately reported it to USATF. Thus my indoor 1.53m still stands – hopefully I can clear 1.55 or better at the Indoor U.S. Championship in Albuquerque on Feb. 18. Thomas I would love to join your group this summer but that is the weekend of the USATF Outdoor Championship where I desire to extend my 1.58m U.S. record to a World Record of 1.60m. It must happen soon as my fight with the downward bell shaped age curve looms heavy. I will be spending many hours of prep in my basement! Cheers!
In other years I only was thinking on my self and the record to beat. Now I got humble and feel strong solidarity with my crazy HJ-fellows, whishing the best (results) to who ever has taken the chalange to fight terrestral attraction (gravity) and that “tooth of time” which is gnawing our bones. So – if David makes 1m60 or Carl-Eric keeps unsurmoutable – I will be happy for them, I will marvel at them anyway as heroes, just trying to be one of them. Hard days are to come. And not because of Don Trumple. The global warm up is due to thousends of Masters getting hot on tracks & fields. Yeah!LOL
Nasty gravity… Last week I nearly jumped 1.40, but technically it was quite poor. But I regained the interest in the high jump, last year I had lost it for some four months!
Congratulations David. Very impressive to say the least.
Thomas,
how do we contact you about the July meetings? email?
Mr. Montiethis is a regular at our NE Association meet and East Regional. He’s a class act.
Mike Travers
Hi, Milan!! Always the same few unbrakable fellows! Contact is: zacharias@magic-lanzarote.net
Weia!! 1m40 is unbelievable. Greate, greate! Not so my 1m51 yesterday. My tech got lost.
David. I see this bell line in its worse section, near to vertikal here…
Thomas,
Yes, I too was surprised by my vertical position in this photo. I need to focus on not leaning into the bar on take off. And to improve my timing I need to watch the bar as I rotate – prior to your videos I had never considered this. Thanks again for sharing your techniques!
David
http://www.leichtathletik.de/news/news/detail/thomas-zacharias-zwei-bestleistungen-binnen-einer-woche/
I have a list of 19 details to think at. It’s just scrabbling. LOL
Made 1m52 Saturday. Next Saturday next event…
My last serious indoor season. Than hope for summer outdoor. But egain: Carl-Eric is a monster.
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