Bubba gets it done...

Back on August 21, I released a story on Bookemdanosports about a 56-year-old athlete named Bubba Sparks. Bubba didn't grow up with a baseball in his hand, but instead found his calling in track and field...and more specifically with a pole in his hands.

By the time he got to college in the early 70s, Bubba was pole vaulting upwards of 18 feet. And last week, he not only competed in the World Masters Games in Sydney, Australia, but walked away with the gold medal after vaulting 13 feet, 1 1/2 inches. Sparks, competing in the 55-59 division, out jumped the second place finisher, Great Britain's Allen Williams, who won the silver medal with a jump of 11 feet,5 1/2 inches. Australian Phil Carrero captured the bronze medal with a leap of 9 feet, 10 1/2 inches.

On Bubba's blog, Grand trip to Oz, he reports the conditions in Sydney was the toughest he's had to face in all his years of vaulting. "This was by far the most stressful and challenging competition of my entire pole vault career. Let's start with the constant 20-40 mph winds that were all over the place but never a tail," Bubba said on his blog. Sparks battled the conditions and his fellow competitors to get the job done.Sparks said, "The bottom line is that I won the gold medal at the World Masters Games to earn the title of World Champion and set a new World Masters Games meet record in the process. Since this competition is every four years I am at least assured the record for that long."

Sounds like he'll be back. Hats off to you, Bubba Sparks.