2017 February - Canadian National Grip Sport Championships - Eric Roussin

[Eric Roussin]

This year’s Canadian National Grip Sport Championships can be summarized with one word: more. The contest featured more events, more competitors, more classes, and more prizes than all previous Nationals.

I was expecting close to 20 competitors this year. Unfortunately due to some last minute circumstances a few had to drop out, but with 16 athletes, it still bested the previous attendance record by five.

For the first time, I’m pleased to say that two women took part in the contest. And it worked out well, because both competitors, Morgan Eadie and Laurie MacDougall, are roughly the same size and also both have background in other strength sports (Morgan in powerlifting and Laurie in strongman). They were evenly matched, which kept things interesting.

Another first was the inclusion of a masters division for competitors aged 50 years or more. Three men competed in this division: Keith Steffensen, Rick Blanchard, and Gustav Bush. All three have an armwrestling background and have become regular grip sport competitors.

 

I won’t comment on too many individual performances, because even though the contest was just two days ago my recollections of many of the details are starting to fade. However, I do remember much about my own performances in the event, so here’s a write-up about them:

The first event was the Sorinex Saxon Bar. I made it up to 215 lbs, at which point I was the last man standing. Though I could have attempted 225, I decided not to, opting instead to conserve my energy. I knew it was going to be a long day.

Next up was the Shallow Hub Key Pinch. This was the first time I had competed in a contest that featured this event. I expected to do well, as in training I was hitting decent numbers. Rob McMurren and I had the top lifts in this event. We both succeeded at 95 lbs and failed at 100 lbs. It was a PR for me.

In the adjustable thick bar event, I was the last man standing at 267 lbs. My PR in this event is heavier, but once again I decided to save my strength for the remainder of the competition. Winning the overall title was a bigger objective for me than setting PRs in individual events.

Relatively speaking, the IronMind Hub is one of my weaker events. However on this day, I ended up lifting more than I expected. I made it to 62 lbs, but it wasn’t enough to win the event. Rob earned the win with a lift of 67 lbs.

We then got to the Wrist Wrench. With so many competitors who had previous armwrestling experience (12 of 16), I expected numbers to be pretty high in this event. I was right, as nine competitors lifted in excess of 80 lbs. I was the only one left at 107 lbs. This time I did try to go for a PR, because 107 went up so easily. I attempted 117, got a few inches of air… and then dropped it. But I didn’t regret my decision. I think 120 is close.

Silver Bullet was next on the agenda. I managed to set a contest PR of 36 seconds. I was pleased with this result, considering we were already 5 hours into the contest. I’ll be travelling to Russia in May for the APL World Armlifting Championships where I’ll be competing in the Silver Bullet event (among others). My goal is a top three finish. My performance on Saturday leads me to believe this is not outside of the realm of possibility.

In the Little Big Horn event, I secured the top lift without too much effort. I felt I could have maybe managed a lift of north of 210 lbs, but at this point in the competition the upcoming medley was looming on my mind so I didn’t bother to try.

Another new contest event was the Stronger Grip Blob Trainer. This is a very humbling device. I did not expect to lift very much, so I was thrilled when I eventually lifted 43 lbs, which was 5 lbs more than I had ever lifted in training. But this wasn’t enough to secure the win, because Rob lifted 45.5 lbs. I discovered that I quite like this event.

The last event before the medley was the two-handed Tips Tester. I’m happy to report that I set a PR in this event, lifting 310 lbs and almost getting 325 lbs all the way up. Jamieson Lalande, who competes in armwrestling and strongman, impressed me with his lift of 310 lbs. It was the first time he had touched the device!

Finally the time had come for the medley. 3 minutes to complete as many of 30 feats as possible. It’s always a challenge to come up with a good mix of feats so that everyone can complete some, but no one can complete all. This year’s medley didn’t contain any feats that are extremely difficult (I’ve done them all at some point), but there were enough very hard ones that completing them all in three minutes – at the end of a 10-hour contest – would be challenging. I knew the toughest ones for me would be the deck of cards, the 150-anvil pinch, the 49-lb anvil key pinch, the 45-lb plate hub lift, and the Blob50. Of these, the only one I managed to get was the 45-lb plate hub lift. I got the 49-lb anvil and the Blob50 to hop, but couldn’t do much with the 150-lb anvil. I didn’t even take the time to try the deck of cards. Overall, I was happy with my result. I think the mix of events was pretty good as the average competitor managed 16 of the 30 feats.

 

At the conclusion of the medley it was time to hand out the hardware. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much time left for post-contest grip feats, but I don’t think anyone really minded at that point. A few competitors had been up since very early in the morning, driving to Ottawa all the way from Toronto or even Waterloo (almost a six-hour drive). Any they were driving back home after the contest!

To say that it was a long day would be a bit of an understatement. How long was it? It was Kody-Burns-marathon-training-session-long. 10 hours from start to finish with just a 25-minute break for lunch. I like to include lots of events to make sure several dimensions of hand strength are tested so that the competitors who possess good strength balance have a greater chance of placing than specialists in one or two particular areas. But 10 events was just too much, especially with a large number of competitors. Next year I’ll likely include six events.

I feel last man standing format works particularly well for competitors who are familiar with the devices. Because I own all of the equipment used in the contest, I had a very good idea of how much I should be able to lift, so I knew which weights to attempt and which ones to pass on. But most competitors had only trained a few of the events, or none at all. Consequently, many would make an attempt almost every time the weight went up. While I averaged about four attempts per lift, some made seven or eight attempts. And through 10 events, these attempts add up and start to take their toll. But still, I think the format is preferred by first-timers, because they don’t have the added challenge of selecting the specific weights they want to attempt, and there’s virtually no danger of scratching.

I’d like to finish this write-up by congratulating Gustav Bush who I consider to have had the most impressive performance of the day. At 68 years of age, he won the masters division with relative ease, and also placed third among the super heavyweights in the open division! He only discovered grip sport about five months ago and has been training regularly with Rob McMurren. His training is obviously paying off. Watching him perform the way he did on Saturday was inspirational!

[anwnate]

Great write up!

Congrats on the win...but more so on the development of Gripsport in Canada.  

It's great to see the numbers rising...and women competitors to boot!

You could well grow out of your comp space soon enough.  

Lots of strong showings from these Canadian Gripsters.