I had a great day competing this past weekend in Olcott, NY on the shore of Lake Ontario. Mike Landrich was the event coordinator and put together another great show. Mike also welded together a training yoke for me to take home. I cannot wait to put that to good use and work towards a 1000lbs. walk for 60ft.
The weather forecast did not look favorable heading in, it called for rain and thunderstorms all day. Kyle and I left home at 4:30am Sunday morning for our 4 1/2 hour drive. I feel very lucky to have someone like her. She is willing to get up at 4am and travel to watch me lift and throw things around in a kilt. Truly a great woman.
We arrived at 9am to meet Mike and the rest of the guys who were also showing up about that time. There was no rain yet, but the sky’s looked gray and ready to burst at any moment. We decided to have the Carry and Drag event first, because it would be most effected by the rain. We used a 150lbs. sandbag and a water keg at 135lbs. both were to be carried 25yds. and placed on a sled and then dragged back to the start line for time. I was fortunate enough to go last on this event and knew the times I had to beat. I won with a time of 18 seconds. A good way to start the day.
The next event was Weight Over Bar with a 56lbs. weight. Starting height was 8ft. which all competitors pasted, heights went in 1 ft. increments. Being my first weight-over bar competition I played it safe and came in a 9ft. which I cleared easily. All cleared 10ft. and we went onto 11ft. where we saw some start to struggle and fall off. At the 12ft. height, only myself and Brian Worden cleared the bar. The bar was raised to 13ft. and Brian was unable to clear with his 3 attempts. I loaded up and completed the throw. 13ft. was my goal heading in but I now wanted more. We raised the bar to 14ft. and again I cleared it easily on my first throw. To 15ft. we go, couple of swings for timing and a big release….. Unfortunately no luck. As you will see in the video I sat the weight on top of the bar twice, only to have it fall back on my side. We will meet again 15ft., we will meet again.
Up next was the Arm-Over-Arm truck pull. We used an inch and a half rope to pull arm over arm Mike’s Toyota Tacoma truck for 25yds. I set my feet and pulled in another winning time and was now 3 for 3 in the events.
During this time, the clouds parted and sun was beginning to shine through. At this time I also took advantage of the free 10 minute massage from the therapists they had on hand. Thank you.
We then moved onto the Open Stone, basically the shot put with a field stone. The stone weight was 15.8 lbs. I have very little shot put experience and was listening to anyone who was offering advice. I also want to thank Adriane Blewitt, the little that I do know, I learned from her in two training days. My first throw was 36′ and change, a good throw as anything over 30′ was going to be good for me. Craig, another competitor with more throwing experience than me and currently in the lead gave me some pointers. I went off to the side and worked on what he said. My second throw was a sloppy 34′. I went back to work with Craig. I had nothing to lose in my third and final throw. I unleashed a 40′ 5″ throw to tied for first with Craig. Thank you Craig for your tips and unselfishness.
The fifth event was the 15″ Log Clean and Press for reps. Overhead pressing is my weakness, but it is getting better. I went first and completed 6 reps in 75 seconds. The 15″ log really challenged my balance in the rack. I believe my overall position in this event was third, with Cory Clark completing 13 reps for the win.
The final event was the caber. We used some smaller caber at first since very few of us in the comp had any experience throwing a caber. Everyone was able to turn the smaller caber and we then went onto what was the challenge caber (15ft. and 86lbs.) which is still small from what I hear, but for the inexperienced, a good challenge. I managed two 12:00 and a 12:15 on the smaller caber. I was excited to get to the bigger stick where we were given two throws. My first toss was a 12:00, while my second was a 12:30, two good throws for the win.
First place overall but more important was the great time with friends throwing heavy things around. I know I will see some of these guys again soon in competition.
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