Hubgeezer Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Well, maybe you do, Clay Edgin knows both of them. But I don't think either of them is on the Gripboard or frequents grip forums. January 26, LA Fit Expo. Before the grip contest, RJ Strossen asked me to be the witness for two guys who wanted to get certified on the Number 3. Evan Hansmann got it, Jon Eklund did not. Hansmann went first. Hansmann, according to the entry form, weighed 320. Seems about 6 foot 5. Does Strongman, I don't think he has a Pro Card. I met him in San Jose on June 30. There, I was hoping he would fail on the Number 3 Cert he attempted, and he did, about 1/8th of an inch off. What did I just say? Yeah, you read that right. Strossen left early that day (IronMind Record Breakers at Santa Clara Fit Expo), as he was recovering from eye surgery a few days earlier. There was the Number 3 that had just been used in the Silver Bullet event, and I was to be the judge for some guy on the Crushed to Dust, something Randy asked me to do. I had no authority without his permission to judge it (a Number 3), but Evan wanted to, so...I was glad he was a bit short, as that would have been embarrassing if it was not approved. The gripper was an average one, and he had held it for 25.6 seconds for 5th place in the contest. Three weeks ago, Evan solidly closed it, held it closed for 5 or 6 seconds, saying "it can't go any farther" before I said "good". No doubt it was closed. That afternoon, he held the Silver Bullet for 34.18 seconds for 4th, right behind Alexey Tyukalov's 3rd place of 34.8 seconds. Jon Eklund has competed in 3 or 4 of the LA Expos to date (there have only been 4 of them), weighs 198 lb., and I think he is about 6 feet tall. An EMT from Southern California, I suspect he got the grip bug from Edgin some years back. He was the very first World Record Holder in the Silver Bullet, because in 2012, he was the first to go for it, with 15.58 seconds, and the record held for...almost 3 minutes. That day, new-to-grip Mike Burke held it for 13.26 seconds. Jon obviously has improved, as his CCS squeeze took the gripper to under 1/16th of an inch, but it wasn't going all the way. Earlier, during the contest, his Silver Bullet time was 24.2 seconds. He'll get it eventually. I thought the stats were interesting, which is why I posted this. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forever Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Always great to read of others going for that #3! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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