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Rolling Thunder contest is a HUGE hit!Congratulations to 17 year old Justin Newsome who won the Ironmind Rolling Thunder contest. Justin won the event over a field of 20+ competitors that all threw their hats in the ring. The last man standing with Justin was Jason Smith, who had been able to match Justin at 187 lbs. but could not do the 192 lbs. Newsome was able to lift. As a results, each of them received gift certificates from Randy Strossen of Ironmind Enterprises, creator of the Rolling Thunder gripper and originator of many other strength toys. Special thanks to Randy for supplying the certificates to the competitors, he is a class act! Visit Irnmind at [www.IronMind.com] Titan Support Systems comes through real BIG! Thanks goes out to Titan Support Systems for donating quite a few items to our event. Pete at Titan sent us over a dozen certificates for the new Titan knee wraps, over dozen cool titan T-shirts, and best lifter certificates good for the highly sought after Titan Fury benchpress shirts! His gear is some very good stuff and can be looked over at [www.titansupport.com] Meet in the Street Bike Show One slight hitch to the weekend was the weather. The rain in the forecast killed our bike show. We did have a few bikes show up and one bike actually entered. Leonard Butler, of Granite City brought his Harley and decided to get in anyway since he showed up and we already had the awards. The "Thor" lookalike is very well known in GC since he has seen plenty of iron in his day. Thanks to Leonard Butler for braving the weather to come out! "Dr. RankenStein" does Strongman demo Pat Rankin was his usual entertaining self at the michrophone. He kept the crowd into it and kept us laughing with his many one liners. Along with that, he also did a Strongman demo for the crowd. Pat pressed the steel log for a few reps that was well over 225 lbs. and then did a Farmer's Walk with 225 lbs. in each hand. Although the weights weren't heavy for him, it did give a good example to our crowd of what strongman is. Thanks to Pat Rankin for coming out! The Meet! The 2nd annual Meet in the Street has came and went once again. Quality instead of quantity could best describe the competition this year since we had just 10 lifters competing in the mean streets of Granite City. That was really too bad because Titan Support Systems stepped up to the plate and sweetened the pot by sponsoring the meet. Pete gave us well over a dozen gift certificates for the new Titan knee wraps and also as many Titan T-shirts to go with them. For the best lifters male and female they each received gift certificates for the very popular Titan Fury benchpress shirt! Hats off to Pete at Titan for playing a major part in the Meet in the Street. A couple other big names behind this competition were Dr. Charles King Jr. of King Spinal and Sports Rehabilitation, and Dr. Jason Talley of Talley Chiropractic. Dr. King has sponsored every event I have ever ran going back to 1991, and is behind the drug free movement 100%. Along with that he is also on the YMCA Board of Directors and is a major wheel in the plan for the new YMCA. Dr. Jason Talley comes to the table with his practice that he just opened a few doors down from the Y. Although newer to the game, and quite possibly a slightly different target market than Dr. King, Dr. Talley appears to be on the right track. A sharp young guy with a bright future, look for him to possibly contribute to future articles on the website. In the Womens class, we had just two lifters, both near the 123 lb. class. Rebeccah Rich came up from Rolla, Mo to give one of the locals, Jessica Ray a run for her money. Rebeccah just lifted in her first meet earlier this year to qualify for the Collegiates, then proceeded to compete on a National stage without batting an eye! Talk about courage, a lot of our male lifters should take a page from her book and have the fortitude to just throw their hat in the ring and compete. Rebeccah also does it a bit different....she lifts without the use of any supportive gear, lifting only in a singlet. Folks, that is old school all the way and rare these days. Jessica had only decided in the last minute to enter this meet since it was in her own backyard. A senior at Granite City HS, she also works about 30 hours a week at QuikTrip and stays busier than most teenagers. Rebeccah opened up at 165 lbs. and it came up smooth enough that she jumped to 176 lbs. on her next lift. Jessica opened a bit more conservative at 155 lbs. and also made an easy opener. That would be the only good lift for Rich, who just couldn't manage to move the 176 on her next two attempts. Jessica went to pass Rebeccah on her 2nd attempt with 170 lbs. but missed it and then had to repeat it on her final lift. As it turned out, Jessica eaked out the 170 lbs. she needed to surpass Rebeccah for first place. Still, no matter who the winner would have been, these were some very nice numbers for ladies that weigh right at 123 lbs. Congratulations girls! Ben Cuvar was our only Teenage lifter, but it didn't matter to Ben. Ben's goal is to get stronger no matter what, and move some iron. He had just lifted in Harold Gaines' Ozark meet in July and made 153 lbs. at 132 lbs. of bodyweight. This meet the plan was to push his personal best up just a bit more, and that's just what we did. After an easy 137 lb. opener, Ben missed 153 lbs. for the lack of a pause. The strength was there, but he pulled the trigger a little too quick. He decided to stay on course and get the new personal record he set out to get. On his 3rd lift, Ben took 159 lbs. down, stopped for a brief layover at the bottom, and then like a piston, rammed it back up. Mark my words, Ben will be good for more later this year! I only regret we were short on time because I had planned for Ben to give a speech on his training and his quick rise. His fans will not have to wait much longer than his next meet to hear Ben make some more noise! Tim Thomas of Belleville, IL came off of a 4 year layoff to compete in this since it was so close to home. Like a lot of us, Tim is a family guy who does the juggling act required in the game called life. Tim mentioned that his kids were at a point where it was finally convenient for him to train again. Gang, that's dedication in the right areas as far as I'm concerned and we are glad to see Tim back. Tim was good for 2 out of 3 and ended with 319 lbs. on his third and final lift, taking the Masters class unopposed. Nico Claytor, who is in the Air Force and stationed at nearby Scott Air Force Base went to extreme measures to get in the meet. Nico was sent to Washington shortly after the Ozark meet and had to make special arrangements to get back for the meet. Arriving at 9:30 pm the evening before the meet, Nico indicated that it's nice to see the country, but travelling all of the time just isn't his cup of tea. in just a T-shirt, he layed down on the benchpress and did a double bodyweight bench of 270 lbs. at the low, low weight of 133 lbs! Talk about potential, this kid has it coming out of him. Message to Nico: Get in touch with Dana Rosenzweig of Belleville, IL. He has the knowledge to get you several levels farther. Speaking of Dana Rosenzweig, he is one of the top benchers in the area and certainly one of the best Master lifters around. He is still working the bugs out of his shirt and managed just his opener of 402 lbs. Just off of his Benchpress Nationals performance in New Jersey, he was a bit spent, but decided to come on out and support the local meet. Dana is always gung ho to help us and we are very appreciative of his sharp help and quick wit. In the 220 lbs. class, Doug Hartzell was testing the waters in his first competition and had the goal of just getting accustomed to the rules. It is a bit different than lifting in the gym, which is why it is always a good idea to get as much exposure to the meets as possible, as soon as possible. Doug hit a nice 325 lbs. in lifting in his first meet. Although he will be capable of more once he starts training the pause, he still did fine in his first outing. The 220 lb. winner and meet's best lifter was Rodney Wood of West Plains, Mo. Rodney had lifted in the Ozark meet back in July at 198 lbs. and figured he'd avoid cutting the weight and see what he could really do. I had heard through the grapevine, that Rodney was "eyeing a quarter ton in the eyes with bad intent" as Jethro Tull would say. As it unfolded, I had heard right. His opener of 440 lbs. was comical. Down, and then right back up. Rodney then jumped to 485 lbs. for yet another fine lift. I really don't know if I've ever seen him miss a bench, he is precise with is attempts and his 3rd would be no different. As the last lifter of the competition, Rodney had passerby-ers, which included everyone from kids on bikes to Granite City Police Officers, stopping in awe that someone was actually going to try a 500 lb. benchpress. This would not be just any 500 lb. benchpress, it would break the Missouri USAPL 220 lb. Open State record that had been set back in 1996. Local legend Jeff Jacques had established this one at the 96 Mens Nationals held by Mike Cissell & Co at the Renaissance Powerlifting Hotel. Once Rodney got his handoff, the descent was perfect, as it needed to be on this historic lift. The bar came to a dead stop and time appeared to stop as Rodney sat with 500 lbs. stationed and waiting for liftoff. Looking like something from the US Space Program, the bar was not lifted, but it was launched! Up it came and without hesitation a new mark was set by Rodney Wood of West Plains! I would bet the next record to fall could be the one set way back in 1989 at the Missouri State Championships by Dallas Terrell. Dallas was a thickly sculpted lifter who specialized in the benchpress and hit a magnificent 501 lb. lift at 198 lbs. I also think it is one of the longest standing Mens Open record we have in Missouri. I told someone last year when seeing Rodney playing around the 450 range in a very old, beat up shirt that this guy could be the one. Rodney could be the one to do it! Find out in November at the Central USA in Cape Girardeau, Mo! The 242's had just one lifter in Terry Stanley. Terry is normally a 220 lber but has recently switched jobs. No longer working serious labor at GC Steel, he does quite a bit of Fowler-like sitting around on his job. As a result, his weight has went up a bit and he said to heck with cutting the weight. It looks like it paid off for him though. Even after working midnights, he squeezed out a personal best 413 lb. lift and was happy to do so with so little rest. After working days for so long I know I would crumble under such conditions. Congratulations to Terry on a great feat.... |
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