ASC St. Patrick's Day Qualifier

This contest represented my first foray into the National professional strongman scene. The guys I was competing against were the best of the best like Derek Poundstone, Jon Andersen, Dave Ostlund, and Van Hatfield. Although a podium finish would be tough against this group of guys, I knew I was strong enough to compete with them and I knew my deadlifting could be as good as the top guys. I did not really get a chance to train for this contest as I only decided after Monster’s of the Mall to compete. To top it off, this was my first two day competition so I had no idea how my body would react.

Day One

1. Car Wheelbarrow: We had to carry an old sedan 100’. When we were testing it, it felt really light, so Mike Johnston added more weight (what? Mike add more weight?) I think Mike added a couple hundred pounds to the trunk. I have to say that the car was not too hard. I picked it very easily, and then carried it about 60’ without dropping. It was after the drop I made my mistakes. I did not bring extra chalk, so as I kept picking it, my hands kept slipping. So all in all, I made it about 67’…and this put me pretty low in the standings.

2. Carry/Drag Medley: The medley consisted of carrying two steel blocks (275, 315#) for 30’ and loading them onto a 48” platform followed by a 600# anchor chain drag for 60’. The only thing that I was uncertain about was the anchor drag as I had never done one before. I got teamed with my training partner Jon Andersen who usually destroys medleys so my goal was to try to keep up with him. The block carry and loading was easy; too easy. I paced myself too much. The anchor drag was not as bad as I thought it would be. I crossed the line a couple seconds after Jon which was about 38 seconds. I was ecstatic with this time until a lot of the other competitors beat my time and I was once again left with a bottom third performance.

3. Truck pull for 100’: We had to pull a 20,000# truck uphill. It was a very hard pull. Only Andersen, Poundstone, and Ostlund finished. I have only done a truck pull once before and it showed. I only pulled the truck about 15-20’. My performance here left me in last place after day one; a very humbling position to be in for sure.

Day Two

4. 330# Log press for reps: I tried to forget about the previous day’s events and focused on gaining some points back. I felt at least a couple reps was possible here since I had hit a 350# log a few weeks earlier at the Monster’s of the Mall. When my turn came, I attacked the log and threw the first reps overhead. Because we were pressing on a stage, the flooring was very springy and I lost my footing. This caused me to have to dump the log. I cleaned the log again and gave it a go, but with similar results. So I took a zero on this event. I was very angry, but knew my time to shine was coming up next event.

5. Last man standing deadlift: The way this event was setup was that Willie Wessels would choose a weight to put on the bar and every competitor had to pull. If you missed, you were out. If you made it, you went on to the next weight. I had pulled 770# in the gym a few weeks out so I was hoping to hit 800# here. The extra attempts did unnerve me a bit, but Ricky helped me keep focused on the goal of 800#. We started low (615#) and then went to 665, 725, 750, and 775#. By this time, only me, Hatfield, Ostlund, and Poundstone were left standing. The bar was loaded to 800#. I was the first to attempt it and I crushed it! Hatfield, Ostlund, and Poundstone then proceeded to make this weight. When the bar was loaded to 820#, only me, Hatfield, and Ostlund attempted it and we all missed it. So I ended up with a first place tie! The highlight of my day for sure!

6. Crucifix Hold: We had to hold 35# axes for as long as we could. I managed ~18 seconds. Not terrible, but not good either. In the bottom third of placing once again.

7. Atlas Stones: The signature strongman event ended this awesome competition. We had to place stones ranging from 300-415# onto staggered platforms (first two were 60”, last three were 54”). I placed the first two stones (300, 330#) very easily but had some serious problems with the 365# third stone. I could come up with all the excuses in the world, but simply I just could not get the job done on this day.

Not my best day ever, but I did get my 800# deadlift and I got to compete against some of the best Pros USA has to offer. It was an eye opener to see where I have to be.

Close Window