When Jim Moeller was a boy, a large roll of new carpet arrived at his home in Illinois one afternoon. It came wrapped around a bamboo pole — a pole that was just right for practicing the pole vault. He earnestly took up the sport in junior high, and vaulted to record-setting heights in high school. Then, after a lapse of more than 20 years, he picked up the sport again — at the age of 43. He now competes in masters’ competitions, coaches in the summer through Fuzion Athletics, Inc., and helps out unofficially at Eagan (Minn.) High School, where his daughter has followed in his footsteps and taken up the sport. The now 50-year-old Moeller talks about his trials and tribulations with pole vaulting. Why not? “You usually think of (pole vaulting) as a high school or college sport, although I know one woman who picked it up at age 40. When I left investment banking, I was three pounds shy of 200 pounds. When I started a consulting business in 2002 (Moeller Ventures, an intellectual property research company for tech companies and IP law firms), I was able to start getting back in shape after getting out of the corporate grind. I did some 10Ks and half marathons, but I got kind of bored, so I started looking for something different. Then, coincidentally, I ran into a group of masters who pole-vaulted and I thought: ‘Why not?’ Today, I’m probably 175 pounds, and my ideal vaulting weight is 170, 165.” more at Bend Bulletin
