The men’s portion of the show started at 10:00 AM, but the women were not slated to start until 2:00 PM. This is not the ideal way to run a show of this caliber, but the athletes did not have a choice in the matter. It is best to run the men along with the women, so that the athletes get adequate rest time and so there is a crowd for the women. At this show, after the men had finished competing, most of the crowd left for the day. Men’s competitions are always going to be more popular, so it’s better to run the women along with the men (one men’s event, then a women’s event, etc) so that everyone gets a crowd to cheer them on. Fortunately, we did have a DJ present throughout the entire day, which kept the atmosphere lively for the competitors. Chuck LaMantia, best known as host of Powerlifter Video Magazine, was the DJ and did a great job. The weather was not too bad, somewhere in the 80’s with a slight haze off and on and a nice breeze.

The pro women started off with the deadlift first. A special apparatus that looked like giant wagon wheels were attached to a regular Olympic bar. This set the height at 12”. A weight of 365 lbs was used. The first athlete on this event was Becca, who set herself way ahead of the pack with 33 reps in 75 seconds. Jill came second with 23 reps. Most others managed somewhere in the teens, and a couple gals got around 8 reps. This was a brutal event to throw into a strongwoman contest, since so many of the events used a lot of lower back, and we all know how much deadlifts work the lower back! But, these ladies knew what they were in for.

The second event was the log press. The pro women used 165 lbs on an 8 inch log for reps. Two women struggled with the log who normally have a strong pressing ability: Liane and Tazzie. Liane had trouble balancing the log, and Tazzie was very unused to the log. Therefore, Tazzie got only 2 reps, and Liane got 1. The log press, especially one this heavy, can throw off even the strongest of pressers if they are not prepared for it. Buffy managed 3 reps, which was also a surprise as she is a strong overhead presser. Julie and Melissa both managed 11 reps to wow the crowd. Becca and Jill also tied, but with 18 reps. It was quite the battle! And then it was on to the next event.

The third event of the day was the Conan’s wheel. This is one of the most brutal events in strongman, and event that has injured many people in the past. It’s not fun to train, and almost no one likes the event. Becca had not been able to train the event and was not as prepared as she would have liked, but took third. Jill had trained on a wheel and was ready, and won the event. Liane also trains on a wheel and did well on this event, placing second. Kara placed high as well. This is an event that Julie had sustained serious injury on at a competition in 2001. She did not know if she would even attempt it at this show. She went for it, and was pleased with her performance, even though her distance did not beat many. She was able to walk away from the event pain free, exorcizing the demons of the past, and was all smiles after the event.

The fourth event was the medley. I had heard that the tires the women were supposed to use had been discarded by the tire company the day before. This meant that different tires would be used for the contest. The tire came in at 550 lbs. From the way it looked, this had to be one of the heaviest tires ever used in a women’s competition! In fact, it was so heavy that two competitors incurred biceps tears and had to back out of the rest of the competition. Becca and Tazzie were the unlucky ones. But they are both such strong gals with the right attitude, and that will help in their recovery. Only a few women even finished the tire and made it to the sled drag. Julie was the first gal to finish the medley, then Melissa, Jill and Kara finished it.

The fifth event was the yoke walk. The yoke weighed 450 lbs, the heaviest ever contested in a US contest. The only yoke that has been announced as heavier was the 465 lb yoke used on last year’s TV show. Jill won the event going 100 ft in 14 seconds, but Kara surprised the crowd with her speed and finished in 15 seconds. Julie came in third with a 16 second walk. Everyone was steady with the yoke, as no one wanted to drop it - once the yoke was dropped, the event was over.

The last event of the day was the plane pull. This is the most impressive looking event. The crowd got a kick out of watching the guys and gals pull the plane. The plane was heavy for the gals, and the course had its ups and downs. Buffy Gordon had a shining performance as she was the only woman to finish the course. Julie, Jill and Melissa all went after Buffy and pulled the plane far but could not finish. Interestingly, part of the front wheel on the plane had broken after Buffy’s pull. This caused the wheel to rotate off to the side. It wasn’t determined whether or not this had anything to do with these 3 gals not being able to finish the pull, but nothing could have been done at the time anyway. This is the nature of strongman contests - little things that can throw a person off that are unexpected. Promoters work to minimize this, but it can’t always be avoided. The plane pull was exciting to watch and a workout for all the competitors, that’s for sure!

If one word could describe this contest, if would be: SURVIVAL. There were a good amount of injuries, as the warm-up area looked like an emergency ward at times what with all the ice bags and wraps! It was a brutal competition, no doubt about that. What a great lineup of women - very cool to see top strength athletes come together for a day of seeing just who is the strongest that day.



Here is the breakdown for final placings and points: