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At the Texas High School Coaches clinic last week Blazer had a blow up high jump and pole vault pit for sale. They have a web site showing some high jumpers using one. Also had a picture of the pit being used at a state meet last year. Anybody used one before? My concerns are, too light and slide a bunch, will spikes poke a hole and getting the air just right, too hard they might bounce off and too soft they go through? Anyone know anything about them. I'm thinking it would be good for my indoor but not outdoor.

John...I hear they come with a blow up coach too

Well I used them back in the mid 70's. First of all I was injured pretty badly from landing on the margin/edge (bad jump for sure) but the edges give away so the effective landing area is about 2' feet in from the outside edge. Secondly they do not puncture but if the power fails they do lose air pretty rapidly. Would I ever jump on one again...................absolutely no way!!!!!! Too many good pits used and new out there to mess around with a possible disaster. My "2" cents. Be safe

Air pits were a short lived fad in the mid 1960s to early 1970s. They were made by the main pole vault pit manufacturer of that time, Port-a Pit. They were also made by one of the few fiberglass pole manufacturers of that period, Thermo-Flex. High Schools and colleges around the country used them as well as many foreign counties.

These pits worked when the athlete landed in the right place. Any landings outside the middle could and did result in frequent bottoming out.

I was not aware that any current manufacturer is making an air pit.

I do not believe current rules from HS on would allow the air pits from this earlier era to be legal.

We vaulted at a school that had a "Cloud Nine". 1979. It had a fan the ran constantly. I thought they were pretty cool. But I thought cinder tracks were great too.

Here are some comments we had on inflatable pits last year: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=23732

www.inflateandgo.com is the web site. I was thinking for our indoor where we have to move the pit a bunch it might be nice but with these comments and the fact that the pit with with blower, case and everything is $14,950 I don't think I'm trying it. Video shows only HJ but they had a picture of pv pit they said was used at Missouri state meet last year.

For proper information the Missouri state meet did NOT use an Inflated pole vault pit last year - we did use a Blazer pit for the pole vault which was constructed using the normal "foam" block technology. The company did have a small display setup at the athletes entrance showing how the inflatable system works.

For proper information the Missouri state meet did NOT use an Inflated pole vault pit last year - we did use a Blazer pit for the pole vault which was constructed using the normal "foam" block technology. The company did have a small display setup at the athletes entrance showing how the inflatable system works.