TULSA, Okla.-The ORU track and field program has announced the date for the third annual Vaultober, a fundraising event hosted each year on the campus of ORU. The 2011 edition will take place at 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 22, inside the H.A. Chapman Indoor Practice Facility.

There is a $25 entry fee to compete in the event, which will feature some of the premiere pole vaulters in the country, including NCAA runner-up Jack Whitt.

In addition to showing off their vaulting skills, each competitor must wear a costume, and there will be a costume contest as well as a raffle.

AN Olympic truce for next year’s London 2012 Games has become the most adopted resolution in United Nations history – with all 193 member states co-sponsoring its wording.

London 2012 chairman Seb Coe addressed the UN General Assembly in New York along with Amber Charles, the aspiring basketball player who delivered London’s bid documents to the International Olympic Committee in 2004 and Ali Mohamed, the young mayor of Olympic host borough Newham.

“The Olympic Truce and the Olympic values and the programs that support the truce can play a role, in combination with the Olympic movement and sport in general, as tools for promoting peace,” said Coe.

“The truce helps to show the world that peace is a possibility. It shows the power that sport has to inspire unity, mutual understanding, and respect among different types of people.

read more http://www.morethanthegames.co.uk/london-2012/1715638-london-2012-olympic-truce-becomes-most-adopted-un-history

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Lincashire, U.K. –OLYMPIC hopeful Max Eaves visited East Lancashire school children to give them tips on reaching the heights.Max, a Commonwealth bronze medalist pole-vaulter, visited St John’s C of E Primary School in Cliviger after one pupil there won a coloring competition. Todd Abbott, 10, won a coloring competition organized by Bowker BMW in Blackburn.. Max spent a day at the school presenting videos of him in competition; instructing during PE lessons; and, taking part in question and answer sessions with the school children. Last year Max scooped bronze in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010 with a jump of 5.40m. And in February this year, Max set a personal best jump of 5.61m to win the Aviva UK Indoor Trials and Championship in Sheffield, ranking him as British number one.

Florida –Jake Beatty begin his 6th grade prep season with a great night of vaulting at the new Pole Vault City indoor facility by vaulting a personal best of 7’1″ from 8 steps. Jake is best known for his entry into the Middle School State Meet as a 3rd grader and putting pressure on some of the vaulters from 7th and 8th grade. After that year, there was a new rule about being in a minimum of 6th grade. Could have been a coincidence, but he could’ve been the reason. Look out middle school, Jake’s ready for business this year.

Florida –Corey Smith has overcome a broken back and is “back” in the air after a year layoff for recovery. Corey set the freshman state record with a vault of 14’3″ at the Golden South Classic in 2010 and had to sit out his sophomore after a back injury, possibly due to a football injury, forced his withdrawal from the 2011 year. Corey hasn’t lost a step and proved that by vaulting 12’1″ on Wednesday evening at the new Pole Vault City indoor pole vaulting center. Corey hopes to achieve his goal of winning a state championship this year and possibly qualify for the Indoor and Outdoor national championships. Good Luck Corey and welcome back.

read more http://www.polevaultcity.com/pvc-news/jake-beatty-sets-new-pr-71-vault/

Ukrainian pole vault legend and IAAF vice-president Sergey Bubka has hailed the decision to stage the 2012 European Athletics Championships in the Finnish capital of Helsinki and given the event his full support.

“The European Athletics Championships will be held on two-year cycle for the first time. I am absolutely sure that the biennial system gives us great opportunities. Athletes are rewarded by an additional chance to win medals while fans get an occasion to follow world class competitions just several weeks before the Olympics,” said Bubka, speaking in the Ukrainian capital Kiev.

“I know that the Organizing Committee in Helsinki is doing an exceptional job in launching a lot of innovations for the new concept of the European Athletics Championships. Helsinki is an emblematic city for athletics, the only city that has hosted two Worlds and two European Championships,” he added.

Bubka has fond memories of competing in Helsinki himself.

The city staged the 1983 World Championships in the same Olympic Stadium that will play host to next year’s European Athletics Championships and despite being just 19, he upset the odds and announced his arrival on the world stage by winning the first of his six World Championships gold medals at just 19 years of age.

Bubka also believes that the host nation will rise to the occasion despite their modest haul of one bronze medal – from javelin thrower Tero Pitkamäki – at the previous edition of the Championships in Barcelona last year not getting among the medals

“Everybody is waiting for something new and extraordinary from the Finns, and I am sure they will meet the expectations,” commented Bubka.

At the RAS Club Dinner last Friday I chatted for a while with my former DPhil supervisor, John Barrow. I’m not sure how, but the topic came up about how helpful it is to use sports to teach physics. By coincidence he chose the same example as I have used in the past during first-year tutorials,  the pole vault.

Years ago I went to watch an athletics meeting at Gateshead Stadium and sat right next to the pole vault area. I can tell you that the height the vaulters reach is truly spectacular, especially when you’re close to the action. The current world record for the pole vault is 6.14m, in fact, set by the legendary Sergey Bubka in 1994, so the record hasn’t been broken for 17 years. Here’s a clip of him a little earlier clearing a mere 6.10 meters (pretty comfortably, by the look of it)… One might infer, from the fact that the record has not been broken for such a long time, that pole vaulters are working pretty much at the limit of what the human body can achieve. And a bit of physics will convince you of the same.

read more http://www.portaltotheuniverse.org/blogs/posts/view/152042/