“You got to be a little crazy”; 13th annual Dauphin Street Vault competition

MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) – The 13th annual Dauphin Street Vault competition took the streets Saturday.

The event attracts nearly 200 athletes and over 2,000 spectators to Downtown Mobile.

“It’s a very niche sport but it’s very spectator friendly so you don’t have to know anything about it to appreciate it,” Dauphin Street Vault director, Drew Bentley said.

The spectator friendliness is the exact reason why Valerie Winchester decided to come to the event for the second time in a row and brought her family to enjoy the fun.

“I love it,” Winchester said. “Let’s just have it go all the way down Dauphin Street.”

Currently, the competition stretches from S. Joachim St. to S. Jackson St.

But the runway is the perfect stretch for vaulters like Kate Eichelberger.

“It’s speed, it’s strength, it’s drilling a lot you just have to know where you are in space and run fast!” Eichelberger said.

Pole Vaulters travel to Mobile from all around the country for this event including Dyson Wicker from Rockwall Texas.

“It’s a mix of everything, you got to be a little crazy, you got to have a little fun with it,” Wicker said.

The perfect mix of energy and competition that these vaulters say they can never pass up.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRG News 5.