2023 April - Spring Clench - Eric Roussin

[Eric Roussin]

This past Saturday I travelled to Calgary, Alberta, to compete in the Spring Clench: the annual (at least in non-pandemic years) grip contest organized by Jason Steeves. I’ve communicated with Jason for over a decade, but this was the first time I had a chance to meet him in person. I thought he selected a nice mix of events for the contest and I wanted to compete against the heavy-hitters from out west again (e.g. Brad Provick, James Jeffers, et al.). I knew they wouldn’t be able to attend Nationals in a couple of weeks, so I figured this would be a good opportunity to test myself. I flew in from Ottawa on Saturday morning.

The contest had representation from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario, and there was a mix of grip sport veterans and first-time competitors. The venue was The Strength Edge, a strongman gym owned by Andrew Bolinger. The gym is truly impressive. It basically has anything you’d want if you’re into strongman. I’d imagine it’s unique in Canada – a very cool spot to hold a grip contest.

The Spring Clench consisted of five events: max squeeze on a dynamometer, the 2”x5” saxon bar (Arm Assassin), the Rolling Thunder (to 6”), the Gold Bar, and the IronMind Hub (freestyle grip – to 6”). I predicted from the start that my weakest event would be the dynamometer, and that I’d be working in catch-up mode for most of the contest. 

Competitors had four attempts on the dynamometer and could switch hands as desired. On my first squeeze I managed 204 lbs with my right hand. On my second attempt, I tried out my left hand, but only managed around 190. I went back to my right hand for my third and fourth attempts. My best result was 214, which was a PR for me. But it was only the 9th best result overall. James blew the field away with a squeeze of 270!

Next up was the Saxon Bar. I had Brad pegged as the favourite in this event, given he holds the Canadian record. The bar felt good. I managed to climb up to 270 lbs but failed at the next 5-kg increment. Brad nailed the 281, leaving him as the last man standing. Nevertheless, with a second-place finish in the event, I was making up some ground in the overall scoring.

The third event was the Rolling Thunder, one of my pet lifts. For whatever reason, the RT at the contest felt just a bit harder than usual. I’m not sure why – it looked fine and worked as it should. But most agreed that it just felt a bit more challenging. I worked up to a lift of 229 lbs, which was enough to take the event. Not a PR, but it felt very close to my limit on this day, and I didn’t try the next increment.

The Gold Bar was the fourth event. Luckily, the device seemed to feel better and better (i.e. more “grippy”) with each attempt. I surpassed my expectations with a lift of just under 80 lbs – enough for a PR and a new Canadian record. I felt I probably could have gone higher, but I decided to conserve my energy for the final event.

The contest finished with the IronMind Hub. I expected to do well on this one, and the Hub felt absolutely great. All the male competitors managed lifts of at least 50 lbs. Once we got above 85 lbs, only James and I remained. We went back and forth several times until I finally won with a lift of 112 lbs. I couldn’t believe I was managing to lift these weights. I think I could have even kept on going, but was happy to stop there. The freestyle hub is one of the lifts in the Armlifting Super Series this summer, so maybe I’ll be able to go even higher then.

In short, I did everything I could to try to reach the top of the overall standings, but I just couldn’t overcome the deficit from the dynamometer. James finished in the top two in four events and his worst result was third in the saxon bar. Though I didn’t come out on top in the overall standings, I was happy to secure the top spot in the 105 kg class. 

At last year’s Nationals, James took first overall, I took second, and Brad took third. Once again, we were 1-2-3, with extremely tight scores. 

I had a chance to meet several competitors for the first time and got to spend considerable time with Mike Frost and Steven Nuttgens (Steven, by the way, finished in second place in his first contest). I went for all-you-can-eat such with them, Brad, and James. Delicious food and fun conversation. Great times.

I returned to the hotel and nodded off pretty quickly, only to wake up in the morning and rush back to the airport to fly back home. A whirlwind weekend that is one I’ll remember!

Thanks, Jason, for an awesome contest!

[Shoggoth]

Thanks you for the kind words and making the trip. Really impressed with the level of competition and it makes me feel good knowing I've got a tough RT haha!

 

I think in the overall Tristain also tied for 3rd. For those that don't know this group is comprised of heavyweight pro strongmen with Tristain doing a 450# per hand farmers walk across the gym the night before. James also took the heaviest stone lifted in western Canada the day before as well. True strength beasts across the board and considering many of the 105 guys weren't too far off is really impressive.

 

Looking forward to seeing everyone at the Stampede Armlifting event.

 

Cheers

[Shoggoth]

[Cannon]

12 hours ago, Eric Roussin said:

We went back and forth several times until I finally won with a lift of 112 lbs. I couldn’t believe I was managing to lift these weights.

WOW!!!

[John McCarter]

Welcome to the club of 100lb+ lifters on the hub.