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April 26th, 2003 |
     
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The Azalea Festival is a yearly celebration of NATO held in
Norfolk, VA. The festivities run for several days, including a
parade with floats for each of the NATO countries, lots of food,
and... A strongman competition! The competition is usually
Pro, but this year was Platinum Level Amateur. We started out with a rules meeting and dinner at Outback Steakhouse Friday night. We were all pleasantly surprised when it turned out that dinner was on the house. Yeah, free steak! Saturday morning the guys were supposed to ride in the parade on the firetruck that they'd be pulling later in the day. Through a communications mix up, they missed the truck. That was a disappointment, but as we all waited in the hotel lobby, we had a chance to talk to all the other competitors. These were some beastly guys! ARM OVER ARM PULL Once at the competition site, they started out with the arm over arm pull. The guys pulled a large tire resting on a wooden sled across the brick boardwalk. Some of the guys seemed to be having trouble with the tire fish tailing. They'd pull it so hard that it would swing off to one side, and several feet would be wasted in side-to-side instead of forward motion. Andy is still too strong for this event. :) But, Mike really tore it, placing very well overall (5th or 6th?). DEADLIFT FOR REPS The second event was the 500 lb. deadlift for reps. The then- current NASS record of 16 didn't stand a chance in this competition. Tony Harris beat it first with 20 reps, and then Jon Anderson crushed it with 21 reps. Travis Mongold pulled 18. Andy even came close to the old record with 13 good reps, and a 14th that just would not be locked out. Allan got 3 reps, and Jesse 2. 500 Lbs. is more than Mike can deadlift, but the guy's got heart, and he seriously gave it all he had. LOG PRESS The guys had 3 attempts to press one of two logs, (starting at 200 and 250 lb.) overhead. All types of presses, jerks, etc. were allowed, but there was no resting the log on your head (ie. "Mike Press") (!?). This event was done single-elimination style - you miss an attempt, you're out. It was also done O-lift-style, where the bars are never unloaded, and - technically - you can follow yourself in the ever-changing lifting order. Again, Allan and Mike maxed at 210 lb., and Jesse at 230 lb. Andy had a particularly good event here, with a high of 270 lb. FIRETRUCK PULL Despite being done before in this competition, on this very boardwalk, the firetruck pull presented some problems. Apparently, the bricks in the boardwalk had settled, making little bumps and hills which were nearly imperceptible, until you tried to pull a 36,000 lb. truck up them. Originally, the starting line put the truck right at the bottom of one of these hills, and it actually rolled backward, dragging the unlucky first competitor with it. Head judge Geoff Dolan, a pro from Canada, harnessed up and worked with the truck for about 15 min. to find a workable stretch of boardwalk. In the end, everyone gave it their best, but the truck was really freakin' heavy. All our guys moved it a substantial several feet at least, but... It was really freakin' heavy. Quote from Andy regarding the firetruck pull: "It sucked." After the fourth event, the field was cut to the top 10 competitors. No one was happy about this, especially not those of us who had traveled to get to the competition. But, as luck would have it, by the time the fifth event started, it was pouring down rain. So, there were many fewer hard feelings from those who could no longer compete. :) And, as someone, (Mike?) noted, nothing clears out a crowd of meddling spectators like a nice thunderstorm! Andy managed to just barely make the top ten, (10th place), so he got to move on. MEDLEY The fifth event was the medley. The competitors unloaded a 250 lb. stone from a platform, ran, walked, crawled or swam down the field with it, and then returned carrying 240 lb. farmers walk implements. Andy was playing with the big boys here, and he had to go first. But, we really think he beat at least two guys. CONAN'S WHEEL The final event was a seriously wet conan's wheel loaded up with 600 lb. of plates. As we all stood around under umbrellas, (with the rain, Gayle had given up telling everyone to stay back in the stands) Andy picked up the arm, and managed to walk several feet. Mike, Jesse, and Allan had all taken a stab at the wheel during the medley. The consensus was that, like the fire truck, the conan's wheel was really freakin' heavy. Jon Anderson won this competition by a mile, and earned his pro card. In other local news, Travis Mongold came in third, and Jim Henry placed 6th. After the competition, a local bar set up a tab for the competitors. Woot! Also, one of the other competitor's girlfriends boosted everyone's ego by having all of the competitors sign her shirt! I definitely got some My-First- Autograph pictures. :) (Incidentally, this chic lifts, and she seems interested in coming north for our women's competition in July.) Even though no one got to ride in the parade :(, the competition was still fun and useful. And, the free food and nice shirts and towels from Met-Rx and Pure Protein were definitely nice. :) Pictures are online at: http://public.fotki.com/radairruse2/ Remember to click the "Get Original Uploaded Photo" link to see a bigger image, especially for the wide angle shots. Write-up by Beka Ruse |