pole vault

M60 Vaulter’s Uplifting Memoir: ‘Finally Fit’ Gives Bubba Sparks a Long-Overdue Boost

Spend an hour with Bubba Sparks and you’re a goner. You’ll become a vaulter. In the case of author John H. Clark III, all it took was a Facebook query to Bubba, his older classmate from Houston’s Scarborough High School. “Do you think I could take up pole vaulting for the first time in my life at 60 years old?” Of course, Bubba said: “Let’s go!” John’s journey from “couch potato” to National Senior Games entrant is movingly told in his latest book — “Finally Fit: It’s Never Too Late to Achieve a Dream.” Published six days after Valentine’s Day,…


At 65, Kay Glynn jumps for joy in 12th annual Christmas photo greeting to masters tracksters

Kay Glynn of Hastings, Iowa, is 65 and still splits my sides with her annual Christmas photo greeting. But I’m onto her secret. It’s the long hair! She apparently took the story of Samson to heart. But I doubt anyone’s angling to mow her mane. So expect her to show her superhuman strength and flexibility for years to come (especially in the pole vault). Here she is at Sky Zone trampoline park in Omaha, where she asked staff about when it was least busy. “They told me that if I were to get there right when they opened on a…


Best vaulter in world at 36? Fersure it’s Jenn after 15-11 Pre win

London Olympic champ Jenn Suhr is sure having fun in her geezerhood. At 36, almost old enough to be a mother to some rivals, she won the Pre Classic vault Saturday with a W35 world record of 4.85 meters (15-11), upping her own listed WR of 4.83 (15-10) from a year ago. Social media didn’t seem to notice the age-group record. But WMA, bless its little heart, called attention to the mark on its coming-of-age Twitter feed. The WMA site breathlessly announced: “Thats (sic) right, breaking news coming out of Eugene at the IAAF diamond league is that Jennifer Suhr…


Wolfgang Ritte at 65 becomes oldest man to clear 4.0 (13 feet) in vault

Wolfgang Ritte has a thing for Wipperfuerth, Germany. Five years ago Saturday, he set an M60 WR in the vault at that ancient North Rhine-Westphalia town. Don’t look now. Wipperfuerth was the site Saturday of his M65 WR, where he made first-attempt clearances of 4.0 and 4.05 meters (13 1 1/2 and 13-3 1/2) and screamed with joy on the way down. Haven’t seen results site, but a YouTube video and my source are reliable. (He came close to 4.0 indoors in March.) So by breaking American John Altendorf’s listed WR of 3.89 (12-9), Wolfie becomes the oldest man to…