Get Your Replacement Pole Vaulting Pole Labels Before Districts

According to NFHS rule number 7-5-3 “The competitor’s weight shall be at or below the manufacturer’s pole rating. The manufacturer must include on each pole: the pole rating that shall be a minimum of ¾ inch in a contrasting color located within or above the top hand-hold position; a 1 inch circular band indicating the maximum top hand-hold position with the position being determined by the manufacturer.
Prior to competition, the coach must verify that all of the schools’ pole vaulters meets these requirements.”

This year there has been an addition to the rule stating: “visible etchings appearing on poles shall not meet the requirement of the manufacturer’s pole rating appearing on the pole in a contrasting color.”  This addition to the rule could affect many vaulters as they head into their district, region, and state meets.  It is a terrible sight to see a young pole vaulter frantically running around searching for a pole to use because their pole isn’t properly marked from the manufacturer.  In fact, I witnessed this exact thing at the Florida Relays this past weekend.  Get your ducks in a row now!  If you have a pole that is either improperly marked or not marked at all, you still have time to fix the problem.

The major three pole manufacturers in the US: Gill Athletics, UCS Spirit, and ESSX are aware of this problem and are willing to help you.  For Gill Athletics, you can request a new label through a link on their front page.  Gill Athletics produces Pacer fx, Carbon fx, Skypole, Mystik, and Carbon Mystik poles. If the pole has a serial number embedded in the pole, meaning that it was manufactured since 2003, you will fill out the form differently than if it was manufactured prior to 2003.  For a Spirit Pole, you have to send in a clear digital photo of the engraved markings on the pole, which may take a little work on your part depending on if the etchings are clear.  If the etchings are not legible, you can try to clean the pole up so the etchings are more legible.  According to Bruce Caldwell at ESSX, you need to provide the flex number, pole size, and serial number along with your address to receive a new pole label.  Lablels for ESSX poles are FREE, contrary to other published posts, however, labels for Fibersport, Catapole, and Maxima poles are $10.

Altius poles are a completely different category.  If you’ve ever purchased an Altius pole, you know that they only have a piece of red tape on the pole that signifies the maximum handhold.  If you have one of those, you better contact Altius, because that pole definitely will not work.  With the new rule change this year, Altius is putting labels on their poles that meets the standard, but most people have the older ones.

Most districts won’t catch this rule, but most regionals will, and if they don’t I guarantee you that the state officiating crew will catch it.  Contact the appropriate manufacturer to get your replacement labels.

Contact information for each of these manufacturers is as follows:

Gill Athletics
1 800 637 3090

UCS Spirit
New number: 1-800-537-7117

ESSX
1 877 367 3779

Altius Poles
Jeff Erickson
1-800-374-7653