THIRTY YEARS! Can you believe it? This November, On Track will celebrate 30 years since that day in 1978 when I sold my very first Pacer pole vaulting pole to Claremont College (Calif.). Since then, On Track has put our motto of “Excellence Through Experience” to work, helping thousands of coaches, officials and athletes locate the hard–to–find, quality equipment they required for their sporting success. Thank you for being a part of our story!

This being an Olympic year which will take the Games to mainland China for the very first time, I am reminded of another momentous event for me and On Track some three decades ago. In 1979 I was honored to be invited to visit the People’s Republic of China with an esteemed group—one of the U.S.’s first coaching exchanges to venture to the PRC. It was truly a once–in–a–lifetime experience. Yes, that’s me on the cover, sitting on the Great Wall in one of the early On Track T-shirts.

Turning from my walk down memory lane, let’s take a look at the present. On Track is proud to be the place where athletic equipment developers can come with their new ideas without fearing that we will appropriate their designs for ourselves. This year, I am pleased to present these new offerings: the PR Plant Sliding Pole Vault Box, developed by vaulters Scott Huffman and Pat Manson (page 4); Speed Chains, designed by Kelvin Miyahira (page A); a new F.A.T. system, FlashTiming (page 28); the second and expanded edition of the instructional pole vault book “From Beginner to Bubka” by Alan Launder and John Gormley (page 50), as well as a DVD of the same name (page 53); and three Overspeed Trainers from
an innovative developer of physical training aids (page E).

We at On Track have been in the workshop, too, and this year we add to our own in-house line of equipment—including Fast Lane Steel Rocker Hurdles, On Track Standards, our colorful Plyo Boxes, On Track’s fiberglass Slide Box and Jump Ramp, etc.—such debut items as our brand–new Gillett Training Hammer Series (page 12) and a new 0.75 kg model of the Cyclone Discus (page 9).

Now, get out there and make some of your own track and field history! We’ll be right here at On Track to help!

Sincerely,

Ron Morris
Owner, On Track