Costa Mesa Games write-up
Day1
22ish# bstone - 38'5.5
56# wfd - 41'7.25"
56# challenge wob (anvil) - 14'
22# hammer - 110'2"
16# hammer - 127'11"
18'10 x 130# caber - 75deg
Day2
16# ostone - 50'2.5"
28# wfd - 83'2"
56# wob (knockoff bar) - 17" PR
20# sheaf - 30'
18'3 x165# challenge caber - womp womp wompppp
Overall 2nd.
I was looking for second coming into this games as I was headed up against the infamous Dan McKim. Throwing with him is an experience. I had a great time. Jon O'Neil and Rusty Price were on my heels all day long as well and produced some good throws. I was really hoping to beat dan on a handful events: weights, ostone, sheaf and he left the door open but I failed to walk through it.
Bstone was a shit show. Just not able to get my hip in front, everything was falling to pieces. I went back to a non reverse throw and had a fantastic push on it, however, it came off my finger tips and fell 5ft short. Oh well.
I was really excited to go head to head with Dan with the 56. I went head to head with Andy back in Vegas and pulled an awesome 44+ PR so I was hoping for something along the lines of 45-46 today. First throw as 41ft, not a bad opener. Second throw side fouled and third was another at 41. Just wasn't getting a big drive on either the sprint or the finish. Losing confidence on this event when just very recently it was one of my best events.
Wob was ridiculous. We threw the challenge wob on day1 because the other wobs were broken. That anvil is no joke. Because of how long it is it's very easy to tap the bar and with my already known accuracy issues I just couldn't get 15ft without nicking the bar and knocking it off. Oh well.
Hammers were up next. I was pretty excited as hammers have been on the up and up for me lately. We're walking to the side field and I notice it's just an uphill dirt lot with very little grass. We start warming up and I'm feeling pretty good. There's really only one spot to dig into behind the trig because of how the gras is lined up and the holes were already dug. Unfortunately for me, they were a bit too wide for my liking, however making changes to accomodate were near impossible because of the lack of anything to dig into. So I just went with it. First throw was 100' on the dot I think. I worked my way up to 110 on the last toss but was looking more for 115'. I think Dan won with 113 then took an extra to get 116. I shook off the negative energy from the let down on heavy hammer and we moved onto the 16# hammer. It seems the farther you threw the hammer, the more uphill the field was. My best was 127+. Dan went 133 for the win and took an extra to go 139. Door open....... and closed. Noticed on my finish I was pulling instead of pushing the hammer around me. Something to work on here.
Caber up next, nobody cares. Moving on.
Day 2 started off with open stone. Was pretty excited about this as ostone has been going well for me lately. Warmups didn't feel so good but the last 1 or 2 felt ok. First toss dropped at 48' to take 1st in the the round. Stone was an awful completely flat on one side and oddly shaped on the others. I thought the rules were to pick a stone that was oval shaped? yeah, not so much. Second toss went 50'2.5" and again took the lead in the round. Was amping up for a big 3rd throw. Set up, came around, right kept turning, opened up my left into a huge block and boom, huge throw.....................until Justin Rosa fouled it stating my left leg hit the top of the trig on the reverse. I watched video and didn't even come close. Showed him the same, he agreed and gave me another toss. Well......I didn't want another toss, I wanted that toss, that he fouled, and didn't mark.. oh well. I took another one anyways and it was crap. Mind wasn't in it anymore at that point. Once again, door open and failed to walk through. Dan went 51+ for the win in that event.
Wob up next and one of the handles already broken. Didn't have my first miss until 16 which I cleared on my 2nd attempt. Jon cleared 16 on his 3rd attempt so I was sitting right behind Dan until we got to 17 which both Dan and Jon cleared on their 1st attempt. Crap. I took a big pull on my 1st and hit the bar. Really didn't think this was going to go today, let alone go on a knockoff bar. On the second one I focus on really being slow and patient with the weight. Letting it get to my toes before I start pulling and trying to get the weight as close to the ground as possible for the longest pull I could. Everything came together and the weight soared over the bar by about 3 inches. HUGE PR. Lots of celebration. Next up 18, hit the bar all 3 times but not really very close. Nobody cleared 18.
Sheaf up next. Was anxious for this as it was another event me and Dan are close in. I was definitely feeling very tired by this point and having trouble keeping the bag on my right side. Watching Dan throw sheaf is pretty cool. He's very smooth and relaxed then BOOM, the bag is soaring high. Hit 30ft then missed all 3 tries at 32 to take 2nd. Dan finished with 33.
Challege Caber............................................................................................ Dan couldn't turn it. Nuff said.
Overall a good games. Some hiccups on the field like the stupid WR caber toss that injured Jason Corder and almost took out a few others. While it would be cool to see 40 cabers up at the same time, to do it on that size of a field is a bit silly imo and is too big of a risk for injury. Had a great time throwing with Rusty, Dan, Jon and the new guy Guat. Got some honey off of Rusty and it's solid. My wife and kids love it so if you have a chance to throw with Rusty, $15 will get you a small jug of delicious honey.
As always, big thanks go out to my wife for taking care of the kids while I'm out of town and supporting me to excel in thsi sport. Also thanks go out to my sponsor Stewart & Torgerson Injury Law for helping with travel as well as being a great friend and driving me to succeed. One more shout-out to Sport Kilt for the kilt. Went with some aqua blue socks for this game to try to accent the blue in my kilt and that failed hard and just looked weird. Heading back to red. Regardless, the kilt itself was snazzy as FFFF. Thanks to Vierra for giving me a chance to share the field with these guys and the SAAA for having us out there. Francis also did a stand-up job announcing as he always does.
On a side note, Jon, Jon's wife (Katie), Dan and I had dinner on Saturday night and I watched Dan plow through the 2 entrees for $20 meal like it was a birthday cake. Hahaha, geat eatin' big guy! I, myself, had a nice 10oz sirloin steak with a side of 10oz sirloin steak and some mashed taters. Solid meal.
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