2018 August - Bone Hill Grip Contest Finland - Riccardo Magni

[riccardomagni]

Bone Hill Grip Contest

Luumaki Finland

August 25th 2018

 

This will be a detailed write-up of the Bone Hill frip contest. I can tell you that this was arguably the most high-level grip contest ever held on planet Earth.  There were six events and in five of them it took a world record to win the event; the 6th was still in extremely impressive feat.

Let's start off with my travel to Finland. It took me a full 24 hours to leave my home in California and arrive in my hotel in Luumaki.  For those of you keeping track at home, it is 10 hour time difference from California to Finland. This fact will serve to be important during the actual contest. There were three weight classes 83kg 105kg and unlimited I weighed in at 102. 7 so that part of the contest was very good.  

• The first event was the Barrel Srength Systems Dub Hub. The lifter was allowed to lift the Hub in any way they wanted just so long their fingers did not go over the base plate.  I used the regular Hub style. I lifted 32. 95 kilograms/72.6# (less than one pound away from my personal record). I failed on 34. 2 kg/75.4# and I almost made it. Not a bad start, but in the United States The Hub is a very good list for me and then Finland it was my worst lift.  I was surprised because I felt a bit flat. With the 10 hour time difference, this was like lifting at 11: 30PM for me.

• The second list was the two and three eighths inch Napalm’s Nightmare.  I was expecting to do really well on this one but I had no energy. and definitely a morning person and again was surprised by my lack of energy I will only managed to do 151.6kg/334.2#.  Still even though this was a very light poundage for me, it did quite well compared to the Finns.

• The third event was the Silver Bullet. This is an event that had been going extremely well and training for me as I have been able to do the number four for the last three times in a row that I've tried it.  unfortunately the number for gripper eluded me today and it eluded everyone but three people so that didn't make me feel too bad. it was an extremely tough gripper that I would estimate to be between 215#-222#.  I took two attempts with it and l was very close. I had to settle with 18. 79 seconds on the number three as a number three and a half was not an option in this contest. I have to admit by this point in the contest that was getting extremely frustrated because I had zero personal records and I am in the best shape that I've ever been in.   I also experienced enough to realize that it was the equivalent to 4:30am in California and that this is not an optimal lifting time for me.

• The fourth event was the Finnish ball.  This is a very tricky event that is a key pinch type of event which is my absolute worst grip event.  however I am magically started feeling better at this time even though I really don't like this event.  I finished with a personal record of 30. 75 kg/67.8# which believe it or not, placed fairly well compared to some of the other Finnish lifters.  I now felt like I finally had some momentum going into the last two events.

• The 5th event was the 80 millimeter Silarukov pinch block.  My pinch lifts have been going extremely well in training and now I felt very good going into this event even though I have never used this exact Implement before.  I finished with a list of 89 kilograms/196.2# for another personal record. this was my best fan of the whole contest relative to the entire field including the heavyweight class.  At this point the day was dragging on for most of the lifters except me. I am used to training very early in the morning and the last two events were taking place during what would have been my normal training times very early in the morning before school in California.  I felt like I had a huge amount of energy.

• The sixth and final event was the adjustable thick bar hold by David Horne.  For those of you not familiar with the adjustable thick bar,  it is really not that adjustable.  It is a series of three different implements that are 60 mm 50 and 42 mm in size that detached or attached to the loading pin.  The event consists of a hold for time at a predetermined weight. Of course for me I wanted to use the heaviest way possible which was 120 kg/264#.  This might not sound like much but the Implement is made in a way that takes the thumb out of the lift and only has the fingers doing the work. Plus it is above my body weight and that is an extra challenge for sure.  To make matters worse the way David Horne organizes the event you have to hold the weight for a minimum of 5 seconds for his account otherwise you have to go down to the next weight. I did not successfully do this lift in training (because it is so hard) so I can tell you I was relieved when the referee told me that I had held it for 6. 7 seconds!  Another personal record and another very strong finish compared to the overall field.

By now I was wishing it was a 7th or 8th event because by now my body was ready to lift.  I wound up finishing fourth in the 105kg weight class and 9th overall. While this might not sound very good, I have to be happy with the fact that I did set three personal records after traveling for 6000 miles.  I felt like it competed as well as I could and I definitely got what I bargained for by wanting to fly to Finland to compete against the best guys in the world. Thomas Larsen from Norway is an insane lifter and is so strong compared to any lifter, regardless of bodyweight.  I was very close to beating the legendary Jouni Mahonen and so that was obviously a very good accomplishment. Arto Joronen did a fantastic job organizing this contest. Of course, world records were set in every event except for the Silver Bullet. I highly encourage any lifters to go to Finland to compete but you must remember these guys are insane.  There were many small man in the 83 kilo class lifting what would be world-class weights in the United States. So you can imagine when the big boys come out what the weights look like…

The best part of the trip so far has been able to meet people in person that I have been communicating electronically with for the past few years.  Of course I have already met Arto in person twice. It was fantastic to hang out with Thomas for the entire weekend. He is a great guy, a true gentleman.  Jesse Pynonnen is such a fun guy to hang out with and is so talented a grip for his age. He is a superstar and I hope he comes to the United States to lift.  Harri Tolonen was the top lifter and I was very impressed by his two world records and by his ability to compete even though he didn't start off as well as he would have liked to.  He is definitely the top guy in the world right now and the favorite to win King Kong, in my opinion.  Tomi Tuomi is a very big and very strong man who will do very well in the upcoming King Kong contest. I really enjoyed spending time with him as well - definitely a gentle giant. Of course I made tons of new Finnish friends while I was there.  Some of these guys are targeting the Living Legends contest and I can tell you if they come, you better be ready…

If you made it this far, thanks for taking the time to read this miniature essay about my trip to Finland.  I can tell you I tried my best to represent the United States with pride and honor and I hope to be back here again someday.  It is a beautiful nature oriented country filled with very nice people, is very clean and safe, and the air is so pure and clean.  It is unlike any place that I have ever been.  

If you would like to watch the video of the contest, I have attached it below.

 

https://youtu.be/OE6GuM-6XBY

 

If you have any questions, let me know.

 

[Kluv#0]

Thanks for sharing your experience at the Bonehill contest. Fantastic competitors and you had very solid numbers and result. You keep doing what you do - as you keep progressing and impressing Harri for sure one of favorites at upcoming KK but I give  slight edge to TannerTo win entire event.

[Guest]

Tried to add a like but it wouldn’t let me! Great job man!

[riccardomagni]

10 hours ago, Kluv#0 said:

Thanks for sharing your experience at the Bonehill contest. Fantastic competitors and you had very solid numbers and result. You keep doing what you do - as you keep progressing and impressing Harri for sure one of favorites at upcoming KK but I give  slight edge to TannerTo win entire event.

Thanks Michael! 

Time will tell with KK.  It will be very close with a number of high level guys.  Part of it depends on beat up they are going into the contest and part of it will depend upon whose worst event is worse!!  Every year the level goes up.  This will be an epic battle... 

[riccardomagni]

11 minutes ago, Joseph Sullivan said:

Tried to add a like but it wouldn’t let me! Great job man!

Thanks Joe!! 

[riccardomagni]

On 8/27/2018 at 10:19 AM, WestSlope said:

Strong showing Riccardo! Plunging yourself into the maw of Finnish grip monsters took some nerve.

Thanks Steve!!