Gerard Dumas - M80, 69 years of competition and counting!

[rainbowgirl28]

Roger Ruth put together a celebration of the long pole vaulting career that Gerard has enjoyed and is containing to enjoy.

GERARD DUMAS WORLD RECORD

Most readers of PoleVaultPower would immediately recognize Gerard as a premier polevault statistician, having gained that status in 45 years of valued contributions since he first provided assistance to Robert Ganslen in his 1970 seventh edition of Mechanics Of The Pole Vault.

What would be far less well-known are details of Gerard’s own vaulting career; especially it’s almost unprecedented length of continuous participation. With his 80th birthday fast approaching, he now has vaulted in 1127 meets, including at least two in every consecutive year for the last 69. That should rank as a world record in consecutive competitions. If you know of any other vaulter with equal or more, please provide the details.

Here are the best results each year in Gerard’s record for consecutives:

Becca's note: Due to the limits of the phpBB software this message board runs on, it is difficult to get lists to format properly. Any meet name with an * at the end means I have shortened the name. I am happy to forward the original list to anyone who would like full information!

Code: Select all

 GERARD DUMAS WORLD RECORD
Sixty-Nine Consecutive Years of Competitions--Best Mark In Each
 
1948          2.12           1                14.05         Herblay  Private  School  Grade 7 Meet
1949          2.32           1                23.05         Herblay  School Sports Day
1950          2.35           4                30.08         Conflans Municipal  Réunion Jacques*
1951          3.11           1                03.11         Andrésy Coupe de l'Automne
1952          3.34i          3=              07.12         Lacretelle Gym  Réunion en salle du*
1953          3.50           9                07.07         Charléty Internationale  PUC-RCF-K*
1954          3.70           1                09.05         Charléty  Match  Paris  London juniors
1955          3.80i          2                05.02         Paris University Track Club meet
1956          3.85i          1                12.02         Charléty Gym  Meeting National
1957          3.60           2                14.04         Aix en Provence   Meeting National
1958          3.75           2                19.10         Albi  Meeting International d'Albi
1959          4.00           3                28.05         Chatenay  Malabry Nocturne
1960          4.00           1                12.09         Charléty  Autumn Championships
1961          4.10           3                08.10         Carcassonne  Meeting International de l *
1962          4.16,5        2                31.05         Mantes la Jolie   International de l'A.S.*
1963          4.21,6        3                03.08         Vancouver  Brockton Oval   Caledonian
1964          4.37           1                07.09         Nanaimo   Vancouver Island Championships
1965          4.47           1                31.07         Victoria  McDonald Park Scottish Games
1966          4.45,7        1                05.09         Nanaimo  Vancouver Island Championships
1967          4.53           3                19.08         UUic Centennial  BC vs Washington State dual
1968          4.51           1                04.08         UVic Centennial  Provincial Pre-Olympic*
1969          4.50,1        3                19.07         Richmond   BC vs Washington State
1970          4.30           1                14.03         UVic Centennial  Vancouver  Island Team*
1971          4.27,3        4                15.08         Empire Stadium  Western Canadian Ch*
1972          4.11           2                14.06         UVic Centennial  Victoria Summer Ch*
1973          4.21           1=              15.09         UVic Centennial   4th Autumn Championships
1974          3.96i          3                23.12         UVic Gym  3rd  Annual Christmas Cup
1975          3.96           2                11.06         UVic Centennial   Victoria Summer Series
1976          3.96           3                23.05         UVic Centennial   Vancouver  Island  Olym*
1977          3.92           3                18.06         UVic Centennial   VAN Island vs VOC- Fra*
1978          3.81           1                20.08         UVic Centennial   5th Canadian Masters Ch*
1979          3.70           3                27.07         Hannover, Germany  3rd WORLD MASTERS Ch*
1980          3.76i          1                26.09         Uvic  Gym   First Sean STELLE meet
1981          3.90           9                17.06         INS  Paris  Les Mercredis de Maurice
1982          3.85i          3                11.03         Victoria Mt. Douglas HS  1st Golden Eiffel*
1983          3.72           3                30.07         UVic Centennial   3rd  Philippe HOUVION meet
1984          3.70           3                14.08         UVic Centennial  5th  Brent FOUGNER meet
1985          3.70           3                25.06         Roma, Italy WORLD MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS
1986          3.52           3                18.07         UVic Centennial  6th  Sean STEELE  meet
1987          3.58           11              24.05         Northridge, CA. University   OPEN/Masters
1988          3.37           6                17.07         Richmond   BC OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
1989          3.40           1                24.06         Eugene, OR   8th  Annual  Bill HAYWARD meet
1990          3.30i          4                04.03         Victoria Mt. Douglas HS   7th  Robert R*
1991          3.20i          16              19.03         INS  Paris 19.   Sergey BUBKA  weekend*
1992          3.25           2                19.04         Westwood, UCLA   Mike TULLY meet
1993          3.20i          5                10.01         Victoria Mt. Douglas HS 11th Jean Michel*
1994          3.35,4        5                13.08         Eugene, OR  USA MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS
1995          3.20           8                14.04         Pomona, CA  Pomona Pitzer Invitational *
1996          2.85           5                12.10         UVic Centennial  15th.Cornelius WARMERDAM*
1997          2.95           5                02.07         UVic Centennial   9th Kory TARPENNING meet
1998          2.90           3                18.07         UVic Centennial   13th  Pierre QUINON meet
1999          2.92           6                18.09         UVic Centennial  23rd Autumn Championships
2000          2.80i          3                13.02         Victoria Oak Bay HS Gym  11th Owen CLEMENT*
2001          2.82           1                27.08         Bellingham  Parks & Recreation Series  final
2002          2.75i          2                15.02         Victoria Oak Bay HS  Gym  15th  Earl BELL m*
2003          2.75           3                20.09         UVic Centennial 27th Autumn Championships
2004          2.75           4                03.06         UVic Centennial  UVIC Twilight
2005.         2.75i          6                17.03         Victoria Oak Bay HS Gym  32th Victoria In*
2006          2.57           5                09.10         Victoria  24th annual Cornelius WARMERDAM*
2007          2.62           5                16.06         Duncan  Garrioch Invitational
2008          2.50           6                07.06         Duncan  Garrioch Invitational
2009          2.40           8                23.09         27th Raul ESTRADA Classic
2010          2.35           1                10.07         West Seattle  Alki Beach Vault
2011          2.30           4                02.07         Victoria  8th Doug WOOD meet
2012          2.22           8                12.05         UVic Centennial   Dogwood Relays
2013          2.15           1                11.05         UVic Centennial   Dogwood Relays
2014          2.10i          1                14.02         Kamloops  BC Masters Indoor Championships
2015          2.15i          7                26.02         Victoria Oak Bay HS Gym 32nd Raul ESTRADA*

[KirkB]

A huge congratulations to my PV buddy Gérard Dumas!

I competed with him in (roughly) 1966-1968, and since then, we have kept in touch.

He's the author of the book "Who's Who in Pole Vaulting III (2005)".

Ever so modest, here's what he wrote about himself in this book:

DUMAS, GERARD. (FRA-CAN). Born: 11.03.1935. Paris, France. 1.72m. 64 kgs.
Mediocre pole vaulter who competed for 59 consecutive years. French Junior champion in 1952. He was instrumental in the development of women pole vaulting in Canada, which event he promoted as early as the late sixties. Statistician, coach. He used metal until 1964. He is married to Lesley and lives in Victoria, BC.

One story I can tell you about Gérard ...

About 10 years ago, I watched him compete in Richmond (a suburb of Vancouver), where he cleared about 2.50m or so. By his own admission, he wasn't vaulting very well that day and I asked him why. In his distinctive France-French (as opposed to Quebec-French) accent, he explained that he had hiked up Mt. Rainier (elevation 4,392m) the day before!

What a guy!

Kirk

[charlie]

One GREAT pole vaulter!!!!!!!