Pogopalooza - When Adults Bounce Like Kangaroos!

If you thought kids were the only ones who love pogo sticks, think again. Adults like them too - In fact so much, that Nick Ryan, a junior at Carnegie Mellon University, organizes the Pogopalooza, an annual Pogo stick competition that attracts extreme athletes from the US, Canada, and England.

Its purpose? To entertain, amaze and educate crowds of hundreds, that playing with any toy can evolve into a full-fledged sport.

This year the event took place in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where 50 "Pogo-dudes" demonstrated their skills in different locations across the city, from August 19th to the 21st.

The final showdown came on August 22nd, when the athletes came together to compete for the titles in events like high jump, best trick, best run and least jumps per minute.

After four hours of extreme jumping, flipping, bouncing off walls, trading pogo sticks in the air and many more stunts previously deemed impossible, it all ended with lots of winners and no casualties, in this otherwise injury-prone sport.

Pogopalooza is a fairly new 'extreme' sport that came into being only about ten years ago. Since then, an increasing number of young adults have adopted the sport, taking it to whole new level. Along the way, they have had some help from Pogo stick manufacturers who are constantly coming up with special, high-tech sticks like Vurtegos, Xgos and Flybars.

This year, the 'hottest' Pogo stick to own was the BowGo. Developed at Carnegie Mellon, by robotics professor Ben Brown, the fiberglass stick enabled athletes to bounce as high up as 9-ft, and perform unbelievable acrobatics.

While the one used at the Pogopalooza was meant for experienced athletes only, a Californian toy manufacturer recently acquired the rights to create a smaller and safer version of the BowGo for the rest of us. To read more about the sport and past Pogopalooza events go to www.pogopalooza6.xpogo.com.

sources: pittsburghlive.com,post-gazette.com,encyclopedia.com