SCORESHEET
All week long the so-called professional meteorologists kept saying "Sunday 80% chance of showers and thunderstorms. 1/2-1" precipitation expected.", so my expectations were low. Saturday I loaded the truck and trailer and prepared for the worst.
One thing I need to explain was that this show was intended to be neither a heavy strongman competition nor a challenging highland games. It was intended to be, and I believe was, a test of athleticism and strength. I wanted the strongmen to be able to do the HG events and the HG guys to be able to finish the SM events.
Sunday dawned cloudy, but somewhat bright. Not looking foreboding at all, but the weather was supposed to go downhill mid-morning. I made the 2 hour drive and got to Olcott a few minutes after 8. My loader extraordinaire, Sam, arrived a few minutes later and we began setting up. Since there were no lightweights competing and all the MWs were well under 250, there was no need for weigh-ins. A special shout-out to Scott Goldy who manned up and competed open class, after the other 2 master's class guys got injured.
With the expectation that it would soon resemble day 1 of Noah's 40 days of rain, I decided to do the carry and drag event first, as it would be the most affected by rain and mud. It was a 130 sandbag, very loosely packed, a 130 lb water-filled keg and a roughly 75 lb sled. There was a trick. The sandbag should be placed first and the keg would settle into the groove. I showed the guys the way I thought it should be done, but told them they could do it any way they wanted to. Brian Worden opened the event with a 44.68. The winning time was 37.81, by Andrew Durniat, with 2nd, 3rd and 4th being 42.44, 44.44 and 44.68 respectively. In the HWs Josh Cybart won with a time of 47.87, despite having won the Pittsburgh NAS show the day before and "celebrating" at Fred Fest (biggest party weekend of the year for SUNY Fredonia) until the wee hours of the morning.
Next up was weight over bar. I went into this event with memories of Western New York's Strongest Man 2009 fresh in my mind. At that show, very few of the guys had ever done this event and the heights showed the lack of experience. Since we had fewer competitors this year I decided to allow the competitors to throw at as many heights as they wished, so long as they made each height with no more than 3 attempts at each height. I have to admit I was shocked and amazed at the improvement. Everyone made their first 2 throws. Everyone threw well, but Brian Worden and Andrew Durniat excelled, with Andrew getting 14' without having missed a throw and just missing 15' with all 3 of his attempts.In the HWs Josh and John both made 11' and missed at 12. Both had 3 misses, but John opened higher so he won the event.
Third event was seated arm over arm. I went light and used my Tacoma, rather than a sled. Sleds suck, as they stop after each pull. The truck keeps rolling so its easier and more doable. Corey Clark was first up and pulled well until the rear tire hit the sidewalk and the truck stopped dead. I told Corey to quit pulling and put him back to the back of the order. We moved the truck up 6 or 7' and avoided the dip. Despite being an event that no one had any real experience with, the times ranged from 18.53 to 37.81. Andrew again showed his explosive power and speed. he was 3 for 3 at this point. In the HWs, Josh won with a time of 20.19. Those big biceps came in handy (he curls a lot these days to look pretty for his pretty lady).
Next up was open stone. Nice smooth river rock that weighed in at 15.8 lbs. Typical HG rules, 4.5' by 7.5' box, any style put the thrower wants to use. The lack of technique here hampered most of the throwers. Andrew's power almost overcame Craig Klemick's experience at HG, but Craig won with a throw of 40'6.5" to Andrew's 40'5". The winning streak had come to an end. In the HWs, Josh won by a mere 10.5", with a throw of 31'11.5". One of the guys from the HG comp on the adjacent field, Nick Kahanic, put on a demo and threw 47'+
Back to a SM event. 15" log. MWs were supposed to be 180 and HWs were supposed to be 200. I had the plates all ready to go and then someone said something to the effect of "My poor little piggies are gonna get crushed" (at least that's how I remember it), so I decided to use the bumpers I had brought in case we needed to use the rain event of Double Overhand 3" axle DL for reps. Well, I actually am pretty good at math, but it didn't show this day. I mis-added the weight and the event was 20 lbs heavier than advertised for each class. I apologize to the guys who zeroed and wouldn't have, but the weights were the same for everyone. Brian Worden cleaned, racked and pressed 10 impressive reps. Then Corey Clark put on a demonstration and viper-pressed 13 reps. Josh Cybart got 6 reps in the HW class for the win. The effects of 2 shows in 2 days and "celebrations" were taking their toll on him. I have seen him do double that on training days.
Back to Control PanelWeb Site .htaccess Editor Archive Gateway Disk Usage FTP FileManager FrontPage Extensions Secure Server Server Information Set Site Editor Site Backups and Restore View my Web site Visitor Statistics WebSite Creator by CM4all Weebly Drag and Drop Builder E-Mail AutoResponder Change CLast up was the grand-daddy of all HG events. The caber is THE event that is most associated with Highland Games. Since most of the guys had no experience with a caber, I used 2 cabers and an unusual scoring system. There a line down the middle of the field. All flips were judged according to how they landed in relation to the line, as opposed to the traditional 3 steps establishing a line and the back-judge having to make a judgement call. All competitors got 3 throws with the light caber. Anyone that got a turn with it, got 2 attempts at the heavier caber. As it tuned out, everyone flipped the light caber and moved on to the "challenge" caber. Only Andrew and Josh turned the "Challenge" caber. Andrew went 5 for 5, with 3 12:00s, an 11:45 and a 12:15. Interestingly, the scoring system allowed one of the guys to throw a 9:00 that was not a fife. Using the traditional system, his line would've lent itself to a 10:00 or so, as he was approximately 15? left of the line when he threw.
Overall, I was extremely impressed by the quality of the competitors. They all deserve kudos. I want to offer a sincere thank you to everyone involved including Paul Krest and the NHAC crew, the massage therapists, Carl Seeker, who makes the best trophies, my loader Sam, my wife, everyone's family and significant others, all of whom offered to help and especially the competitors. You guys rock.
Now on the plan the next show..........