Eric Roussin Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 I guess today was NAGS Championship write-up day! I’ll add mine to the lot. This was my fifth NAGS Championship and one of my favourites. As I got closer to Elmira I felt a bit like I was heading into the middle of nowhere, but when I arrived I found the venue itself to be perfect for the contest. The separate room for the wrist roller and medley was cool. I think what I was most excited about was the fact that, for the first time, Canada had a decent-sized team at this contest. I think the previous participation record was 2 (maybe 3) Canadians. This time, we were eight! This truly helped make the event seem like the “North American Championship”. And with the last minute decision to add a Canada/USA team competition, I felt good about our odds! Action got underway exactly on schedule – which is great. I can tell you that this is not the norm for armwrestling tournaments. In the gripper event, I hoped to close at least the 155, but came up a bit short. I nailed 150. I was satisfied, but far from thrilled. I’ve had a lot of skin tears over the past few months. My hands were healed, but I was wary of the Euro. Sure enough, my skin started to tear on my first attempt. I was successful on my second attempt (203 lbs) but did more damage to my hands. Given that the 203 was difficult, I weighed the likelihood of success at 208 against the likelihood of further skin damage, and I decided to forego my third and fourth attempts. After two events, I was trailing Luke just slightly, but I knew my money event was coming up. Napalm’s Nightmare. Training had been going very well on this implement. I had lifted 410 in training, and felt I had room for more. On my third attempt I successfully lifted 412. I wanted to see if I could get the nice round number of 425 on my final attempt, but it was not to be. My strategy for the medley was to be very conservative. For instance, instead of lifting 5 10s, I went with 4 10s because I didn’t want to risk losing valuable seconds if I attempted 5 10s and they all came apart. The result is that I may have left a few points on the table, but not much. I earned 49 points to Luke’s 55. After four events, Luke and I were tied to the hundredth of a point. This was bad news for me, because I have a bad track record with wrist rollers and he’s amazing with them. I didn’t quite get the sled all the way to the end, but I think I got it furthest among those who didn’t complete the full length. Of course I wish I would have done better, but I was satisfied. By the end of the contest, Team Canada had 45 points and Team USA had 60. With reverse strongman scoring, this meant we had won! I’m already looking forward to next year’s contest. A special thanks to Jedd, Luke, and everyone else who helped make this contest a success. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Rinderle Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 As usual, it was a pleasure to compete against you Eric. Fantastic job. And a big tip of the toque to the Canadian team on a well deserved victory! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 6, 2018 Share Posted June 6, 2018 Eric, You are class act as always. Yourself and your team were awesome and a very polite bunch! Looking forward to the competition next month at your place! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riccardomagni Posted June 6, 2018 Share Posted June 6, 2018 7 hours ago, Eric Roussin said: I guess today was NAGS Championship write-up day! I’ll add mine to the lot. This was my fifth NAGS Championship and one of my favourites. As I got closer to Elmira I felt a bit like I was heading into the middle of nowhere, but when I arrived I found the venue itself to be perfect for the contest. The separate room for the wrist roller and medley was cool. I think what I was most excited about was the fact that, for the first time, Canada had a decent-sized team at this contest. I think the previous participation record was 2 (maybe 3) Canadians. This time, we were eight! This truly helped make the event seem like the “North American Championship”. And with the last minute decision to add a Canada/USA team competition, I felt good about our odds! Action got underway exactly on schedule – which is great. I can tell you that this is not the norm for armwrestling tournaments. In the gripper event, I hoped to close at least the 155, but came up a bit short. I nailed 150. I was satisfied, but far from thrilled. I’ve had a lot of skin tears over the past few months. My hands were healed, but I was wary of the Euro. Sure enough, my skin started to tear on my first attempt. I was successful on my second attempt (203 lbs) but did more damage to my hands. Given that the 203 was difficult, I weighed the likelihood of success at 208 against the likelihood of further skin damage, and I decided to forego my third and fourth attempts. After two events, I was trailing Luke just slightly, but I knew my money event was coming up. Napalm’s Nightmare. Training had been going very well on this implement. I had lifted 410 in training, and felt I had room for more. On my third attempt I successfully lifted 412. I wanted to see if I could get the nice round number of 425 on my final attempt, but it was not to be. My strategy for the medley was to be very conservative. For instance, instead of lifting 5 10s, I went with 4 10s because I didn’t want to risk losing valuable seconds if I attempted 5 10s and they all came apart. The result is that I may have left a few points on the table, but not much. I earned 49 points to Luke’s 55. After four events, Luke and I were tied to the hundredth of a point. This was bad news for me, because I have a bad track record with wrist rollers and he’s amazing with them. I didn’t quite get the sled all the way to the end, but I think I got it furthest among those who didn’t complete the full length. Of course I wish I would have done better, but I was satisfied. By the end of the contest, Team Canada had 45 points and Team USA had 60. With reverse strongman scoring, this meant we had won! I’m already looking forward to next year’s contest. A special thanks to Jedd, Luke, and everyone else who helped make this contest a success. Great job Eric!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riccardomagni Posted June 6, 2018 Share Posted June 6, 2018 9 minutes ago, riccardomagni said: Great job Eric!! Maybe I will enter the fray at some point but having Philadelphia and Finland on my travel destinations did not leave any budget for another trip... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terminal Posted June 6, 2018 Share Posted June 6, 2018 Nice write-up Eric. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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