This was my third time competing in the Georgia’s Strongest Man contest and probably my best showing over all. I got to the contest site around 9am after making the 2.5 hour drive down from Chattanooga. I got weight in and started warming up and talking with the other competitors. After the rules meeting things got under way. I was second to last to go on the first event which was the Log Clean & Press. One advantage of going near last is you know what is needed to place. Ten (10) reps would have tied me for 1st and 7 reps would put me alone in 2nd place. I decided to go for 2nd since I have never done more then 8 with the contest weight. I did my 7 reps and waved off the rest of my time.
Next was the Conan’s wheel. I have never done this event, but have been training a close simulation so I was confident I would give a good showing. WRONG!!! I lifted the weight and began walking forward…more like falling. I never stabilized the swinging weight so I fell forward for about 5 ft, which is where the weight landed. A disappointing 7th place.
Next was the medley event: farmer’s walk, frame carry and sled drag for feet each. I was hoping for a good showing in this event. I was second to go. I carried the 270 lb (per hand) farmer’s walk handles with no problem and moved onto the 650 lb frame. This was heavy. On my first pick up I got the weight about a third way down the 50 foot course before dropping it. I lifted it again and went a few more feet when my left hand failed and dropped it again. I managed to pick it up a third time and go a few more feet before time ran out. I was disappointed in this effort because my goal was to complete the course and with my poor showing in the Conan’s wheel I thought my chances of placing in the top 3 were over. I sat down to watch the rest of the guys in my weight class go. To my surprise my distance held up and I got 2nd place in this event. At this point I was in 4th place for the over-all contest.
The fourth event was the tire flip. This is one of my better events. A 750 lb tire for 10 flips with a 60 second time limit. I finished my 10 flips in a time of 50.44 seconds. Good enough for 2nd place. With this event placing I moved up to 2nd place in the over-all one point ahead of 3rd place and 2 points ahead of 4th place. It was still anyone’s meet to take.
The last event was the atlas stone load. We had a 275, 290, 310, 335 and 390 lb stones and needed to load them onto a 48 inch platform. I was able to load 4 of the 5 stones. I didn’t bother to ask my time or event placing because I knew loading the 4th stone is what I needed to maintain 2nd place over-all.
This was a very well run show, the GA show always is. There was some tough competators there and a large croud. With this one done it's time to begin thinking about Tennessee's Strongest Man in October!!!
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