2016 November - Iron Station Day of Strength @UGS - Jason Otto

[jasonotto]

Iron Station Day of Strength @ the Used Gym Store

Iron Station, NC

November 12^th, 2016

This event was only in the works for a couple of months, and we really did not know what to expect in terms of turn out.  We tossed around some ideas and decided to have an unsanctioned event where people could come out to learn, compete, and have some fun.  We accomplished all of these tasks, and it turned out to be something great!

We had about 14 competitors from all over NC in addition to many spectators.  We had a little bit of everything, from seasoned strongmen and power lifters to armwrestlers and gripsters.

First off, thank you to James Retarides for putting this into motion.  Without him, it never would have happened.  Thanks to Janelle White (Owner of UGS), we could not have had a better venue.  This place is HUGE and that is no exaggeration.  They sell used gym equipment and truthfully have anything you could possibly need.  Walking in Saturday morning the first thing you would see would be the medley of all medleys.  This event was intense and had some serious events (we can touch on these later).  To your left was the largest buffet of grippers you could ever hope to see (1-3 lb increments!).

We started out the day with 20mm block set grippers.  This was an awesome event, because we had a spectrum of experience levels.  It was nice to see some interest in grippers.  We spent a good amount of time working the set and selecting starting points for the newbies.  We had some huge PRs in this event.  Bob Sundin and Shawn Kapusta both put up a huge block set crush of 144 and James Retarides was right behind with a 141.  James probably could have squeezed the 147, but was caught in a decision making moment and selected the 141, which he destroyed with ease.  I was able to muster 165, but failed at 168.

Next was the 2.5 inch crusher.  This was another awesome event.  Once again, Bob Sundin and James Retarides blew away the competition.  Bob topped out at 167.15 (But attempted something like 180+ and if I remember correctly, he had some air).  James was right behind with 166 and Robert Miller and Gary Stuart tied it up with 155.  

V-Bar had some pretty solid competition.  Bob Sundin won with a huge 285.1 pull and James was next with 231.  The big story of the day in V-bar however, was armwrestler Mike Bianchi with a pull of 211.8 after never having touched the implement before.  Let’s not forget, he pulled 140 on the crusher as well!  Some serious raw strength there.

As mentioned previously, the medley was nuts.  In it were about 38 or so implements.  We had an assortment of blobs, sledge levers, sledge coin lifts, tractor press, farmer’s walks, various thick handled dumbells including the Inch, several hub apparatuses, and a bunch of other stuff I can’t remember.  All I know is I was completely taxed at the end of this one.  James and I tied at 28, but he would have had more as he overlooked 3 easy levers.  Robert Miller surprised nobody as he came out and absolutely dominated this event.  Nothing looked difficult, in fact I don’t even remember which 3 or 4 implements he missed. He totaled about 34 successful lifts.  Shawn Kapusta had a memorable performance with 31 successful lifts.  This was certainly an assortment of items that was sure to test every aspect of hand strength.

 

When all was said and done, Bob Sundin took home 1^st, followed by James in 2^nd and myself in 3^rd.  At the culmination of the event Gary Stuart and Robert Miller showed us how to destroy steel.  Gary toyed with a frying pan, rolling it up like a newspaper, he bent a horseshoe into something that looked like…well not a horseshoe; he broke some chains, and did some cool scrollwork.  Robert did some crazy sledgehammer feats and bent some Red Nail stock that couldn’t have looked easier.  Oh and finally…Bob put a phone book through some pain.  He decided to slice it into thirds this time…

We finished up with a bunch of armwrestling, which was fun.  After all, it has been a long while for some of us, and boy did it feel good.  It’s one of those things that you where you just feel at home.

This was such a great day.  I want to give a huge shout out to Janelle and the Used Gym Store for sponsoring the event.  The venue was absolutely great.  They also provided a ton of gift card awards for first place in all categories as well as overall winners.  A big thanks to Barrel Strength (Gil Goodman and Maria Bascetta) for providing shirts and prizes.  The overall winner took home a loading pin, there was a 20 mm block, and finally, a spirit award.  Shawn and I tied on this one, but it was an honor to be chosen by the majority of participants.  Kendal Air (owned by Kent Buckalew) sponsored our t-shirts for the event, which turned out absolutely fantastic.  Thank you to Scott Johnson for playing a huge roll in set up and tear down throughout the event.  He was on the money and was on top of things helping to keep the event moving along the entire time.  He did some great hub work and demonstrations later on as well.  James’ wife also played a huge roll in keeping track of stats and points throughout.  She did a seamless job and everything came together nicely.  If there is anyone I have forgotten to acknowledge, my apologies, it was unintentional.

Thank you to everyone who came out to support the event.  I know I can speak for the rest of the PUAs when I say, this was one for the ages and there will hopefully be more to come.  There were some very strong folks at this event.  I always love to see people with various backgrounds and skills, show interest in the world of grip.  As soon as we finished we were talking about what we can do next time.  Keep your ears open.

[AKJV1769]

Jason: Excellent summary & assessment. Congratulations on your placing as this was very  tough competition!--Scott Johnson

[anwnate]

Cool report Jason.  Sounds like we missed a well run and competitive event.

Can't wait to get down to NC and see the PUA's again.