West Coast Rolling Thunder
Contest Results
December 10th, 2011


The Rolling Thunder Grip Contest is something that Tod and I have held off and on since we witnessed the World Championships first hand in Hawaii in 2001. The lift consists of a 2 3/8" diameter "rolling" handle. Compare this to the standard gym barbell that is 1" in diameter. It's an event best suited for people with big hands. The World's Strongest Man contestants were gathered in Hawaii for The Beauty and the Beast Strength competition, which also had a women's division that I competed in. Two nights before the strength contest, all of the competitors gathered in one of the host restaurants for steak dinner and a little grip challenge. The late J.V. Askem was on hand with Ironmind's Randall Strossen to run the event. What was cool about this event, is that it is so casual, you can be sitting at your table enjoying your dinner and drinks one minute, the next you can stand up and participate in the lift. This is what we were aiming for when we held our competition on December 10th, 2011.

Rick McClung graciously donated $200 in cash prizes, along with 1st-3rd awards in 4 classes. The awards were awesome as they were all specialty knives! On Saturday night after the powerlifting meet, competitors met in the banquet room of the Hallmark hotel's restaurant. We had a full roster of heavyweight men, lightweight men, masters men and women on hand to battle it out! Even though I warned people of the difficulty of lifting the large handle, and everyone had chances to warm up and try lighter weights, we still had 4 people "bomb out" on the event, meaning they missed their first lift and were out of the competition. It's a learning experience!

The heavyweight men saw Ben Crutcher win with a 176 lb lift. Ben wanted 200 lb and tried it, but just didn't have it this night. Something to come back and conquer next year! The lightweight men battled it out for the top placings, but when the dust settled, Dustin McFarland walked away with top honors and a NEW Northwest Lightweight record! He broke the old record by about a pound and a half. What a feat! The masters men put on a good show; I was particularly impressed with the concentration and careful choice of attempts made by Rick Raybourn. His last lift of 151 lbs was close to 100% on effort - good picks on attempts! The ladies were really into the event as well, and 2nd place was a tie on weight lifted, but awarded to the lighter gal. First place saw Julia Carlsen breaking into triple digits with a strong lift of 101 lbs!

Other notable gripping feats this night were a couple of guys closing the Captains of Crush no. 2 gripper, and William Rogers closing the no. 3!! A special thanks goes out to Rick and Anna McClung. Thank you for hosting the event and having us down to Newport to run it. We look forward to another successful event in 2012! ~ Julie Havelka






Heavyweight Men - Over 210 lbs.

Lifter Weight Lifted in Lbs Place
Ben Crutcher 176 lb 1st HWT
Justin Randall 166 lb 2nd HWT
Peter Martin 151 lb 3rd HWT
William Rogers 141 lb 4th HWT
Ben Seath 136 lb 5th HWT



Lightweight Men - 210 lbs and under

Dustin McFarland 164.75 lb 1st LWT/New NW Record!
Adam Glasgow 146 lb 2nd LWT
Chris Carlsen 141 lb 3rd LWT
Paul Schones 121 lb 4th LWT



Master Men - 45 years and up

Rick Raybourn 151 lb 1st Master
Jim Knoblit 121 lb 2nd Master



Women

Julia Carlsen 101 lb 1st Women
Jen Raybourn 66 lb 2nd Women (lighter bdwt)
Christie Schones 66 lb 3rd Women
Diane Sutton 61 lb 4th Women