Contest Report: Minnesota State Championships - July 9, 2007

by Ben Hanson

Going into the Minnesota State Championships, I had something to prove. I'd turned out a so-so performance in Fresno with the two worst performances of my career as its bookends. Des Moines was somewhat excusable due to being sick and losing a lot of weight just prior to the contest, but my last performance was horrid. I bombed a few events that should have been good for me and did even worse on my bad events. Quite frankly, I had no business being out there. It was an insult to the competitors who had busted their asses to be at the top of their game, and it was an embarrassment to me. I knew I was better than my previous performances, and it was time to show it.

The only thing standing in the way of a good finish (other than the competitors) was the fact that the promoter of this contest decided to fiddle with the weight classes. Instead of using the classes that have started to become standard around the country--a Lightweight Division comprised of 175lb, 200lb, and 231lb weight classes, and a Heavyweight Division comprised of 265lb, 300lb, and super heavyweight classes--the 201-231lbers and 232-265lbers were combined to form a 201lb-265lb Middleweight Division. As someone who competes right around 225lbs-230lbs, to get a good finish, I'd not only have to best the usual suspects in the 231lb class, I'd also have to beat guys much stronger and much heavier than me.

Originally, I'd planned on getting my body weight up to 240lbs or so to even the odds a bit, but after two weeks of force-feeding myself, I started feeling really shitty. Not only did I feel sluggish throughout the day, I was also noticeably slower physically. After traveling to the promoter's house to train the events two weeks prior to the contest, I quickly realized that my speed would be my biggest asset in the upcoming events. That night, I stopped trying to gain weight and reverted back to my normal diet. Within a week, I was down eight pounds to my normal weight of 225lbs, and I was feeling great. By the day of the contest, I was feeling better about my chances than I'd felt in a long time.

I arrived at Municipal Park in Sauk Rapids and checked in well-rested and ready.

The first event of the day was the Minnesota Shield carry. As an event, the shield or stone carry is perhaps the most traditional of all strongman events. In days of yore, young men of tribes and clans across the globe were charged with the task of picking a large object up to their chest and walking with it as a rite of passage into manhood. The most famous of these is Iceland's Kviahellan, or Husafell Stone. Today, we use chunks of plate steel or poured concrete, but the Husafell Stone has stood strong through the ages and still welcomes brave men from around the world to test their might. While the Minnesota Shield carry is nowhere near the tradition of Kviahellan, it is to be no less respected. Weighing in at a mere 440lbs, the four inch thick sheet of Minnesota-shaped steel is a killer.

In last year's Minnesota State Championships, I only carried the shield 105 feet, which wasn't a last place effort, but it was damn close. If I was going to get off to a good start for the day, I knew I would have to log a distance of 200 feet or better. As I waited for the lightweights to finish, I repeated "two hundred feet, two hundred feet, two hundred feet" over and over in my head. When it was finally my turn to go, I put three neoprene sleeves on each arm to prevent the edges of the sun-baked steel from ripping the skin off my arms. As I stood at the keg upon which the shield was perched preparing for my run, I noticed a big chunk in the asphalt about five feet from the starting line where one of the previous competitors dropped the shield. The last thing I wanted was for a course flaw to mess me up, so I kicked the chunks of asphalt out of my path before taking my grip on the shield.

The first 50 feet felt pretty good. I wasn't moving as fast as some of the other competitors, but I was steady. As I approached the 100' mark and prepared for the turn, the effects of nearly a quarter ton of steel resting on my chest started to take their toll. Much like being caught in the muscular coils of a boa constrictor, the Minnesota Shield has a tendency to steal the breath from most of the competitors who try to pick her up and take her the distance. Unfortunately, the shield dealt its death blow to me sooner than anyone else. Shortly after I made the turn at the 100' mark, I lost my ability to inhale. I took a few more steps to get every inch out of my attempt and made a desperate, guttural yell with my last breath, and the spotters knew it was time to throw down the tires as I dropped the shield at the 119' 9" mark . All I could do was sit and watch as all of the other middleweights surpassed my distance, putting me into last place to start the day.

Bombing an event is something that happens to everyone at some point, but bombing the first event and starting the day in a hole has some pretty serious psychological effects. Luckily, I knew that the shield would be my worst event of the day, and I'd excel at the other four. I could only hope that the hole wasn't too deep to climb out.

The second event of the day was the steel bar bend. A rare event not seen since the 1983 World's Strongest Man competition in Christchurch, NZ, this one was a mystery to all of us. For the middleweights, we were given two 5/8" thick steel bars (roughly the diameter of a dime) that we had to transform from a 4' long straight steel bar into a 5/8" steel [insert favorite celebrity cause] awareness ribbon. The only rule was that we couldn't use any part of the body below the knee to bend the bar in any way. Most never really had a chance to practice the event, but a few of us who were able to drive to the promoter's house to train prior to the contest got a chance to try it briefly. We had an advantage at first, but any of the middleweights who watched the lightweights go before them knew any secrets we'd learned.

To speed the contest up, the promoter decided to run four competitors at a time in the bar bend and finishing last in the shield put me securely in the first heat. The technique I used was to put the bar behind my butt and sit on it to get the initial kink. After that, I put one of the ends between my legs and the other around my hamstring to get it to a "U" shape. Finally, I put it vertically between my legs to cross the ends and finish the awareness ribbon.

The method worked particularly well for me, and all of the other competitors who tried it. What surprises me most is the number of competitors who didn't use that method and had a much more difficult time with the event, despite seeing everyone else use it with success. I completely bent both bars in 39.43 seconds, which put me in 5th place. It wasn't quite a comeback yet, but because this event proved to be a bit of an x-factor, it helped me gain some points on the leaders.

The next event was one that I was really excited about. Most recently seen in the 2006 World's Strongest Man, the car walk had never been done in an amateur competition in the United States. In addition to the Cool Factor, my proficiency on the yoke made this my best shot to earn some big points and make my move into the top three or four. Just one week before this contest, I was doing speed runs with 650lbs on the standard yoke, so I hoped the 600lb car would be a breeze. The only problem is that the car yoke is not like a normal yoke. Unlike a normal yoke with a bar and weights which swings forward and back as you move with it, the car yoke utilizes two shoulder straps as the means of pick-up, which allows it to swing forward, backward, sideways, diagonally, up, and down. One wrong step could mean disaster for your score. Additionally, the straps had to be adjusted for each competitor's height. A bit too high or low could make the front or rear of the car bounce along the ground, seriously slowing you down.

We were each given a test pick-up to set the strap height prior to our run. The competitor before me was close to my height, so I gave it a test pick-up before they adjusted the straps, and it felt perfect. I told the head judge, Karl Gillingham, that I liked it the way it was, and he told me to get ready. The pick-up felt really light, and the car was perfectly balanced. I started out fast and kept my pace throughout the entire 80' run. Toward the halfway point, I thought about picking up my pace a bit, but increasing my speed also meant running the risk of losing the stability of my stride and dropping the car. I decided to keep my pace and finish strong. As soon as I crossed the line, I heard the announcer say, "That's a very fast time. We might have a new leader."

A quick check with the time keeper confirmed that it was a very good time, 11.97 seconds, but it was about 1/2 second off the leader. With four of the better competitors still to go, my time held up for a second place finish in the event.

The fourth event of the day was the giant log press. Unlike most strongman logs that are pre-fab metal cylinders, this one was an actual log straight out of the forest. At 12' long and about 18" in diameter, it would have been impossible for anyone on earth to press the 600lb former tree overhead in the traditional log fashion. Instead, the log was set up as a viking press apparatus. The far end of the log was secured to a pivot point while the end to be pressed was fitted with a metal bracket with handles. Going into this I felt confident that I'd do ok. My press had been steadily improving, and the rules allowed for us to use leg drive. For me, this was going to be more a test of endurance rather than a test of strength. For the first time in my career, I was absolutely certain that I would hit double digits in a press event, and I was excited about it.

Because I finished second in the yoke, I got to go second to last on the log, which would give me a great idea of how many reps I'd need to give me a decent placing. My excitement about hitting double digits was quelled when one of the competitors normally in the 265lb class hit 35 reps in the 60 second time limit. He had a bad run in the yoke and was a good presser, but any of the confidence I had in my improved pressing went out the window as I saw half of the eight preceding competitors exceed twenty reps. I stepped up to the log, took the "go" signal from Dave Ostlund, and started popping out reps with ease.

Around number 10 I started to feel the fatigue set in on my triceps and shoulders, but I told myself I'd push it to 15 before taking a break. I hit two more after my short break and then stopped again, only to get numbers 18 and 19 as time expired. Normally, I'd be elated with 19 reps at any press event, but today it was only good enough for 5th place.

Going into the final event of the day, the Stones of Death, I was in 6th place overall and just a few points out of 4th. I knew I was the man to beat and so did all of the other competitors. It's a great feeling to know that you're the one everyone's gunning for, but sucks when the event has a twist that makes it anyone's race. The twist in the S.o.D. was that instead of five stones of increasing weight, there were ten stones weighing 240lbs each. To add to the difficulty, the final five stones were set 20' from the truck bed that served as the platform. I watched the competitors behind me in the points make their runs and finish 5, 6, 7, or 8 stones as their time expired. I knew I could beat all of them.

I stumbled a bit on my first stone. My plan was to one-motion the first five stones, which eliminates the step of bringing them into your lap and re-gripping each one before you load it. It's quicker, and most importantly, it saves energy. However, my plan backfired when I didn't pop the first stone high enough to get it onto the platform. I quickly recovered and blew through the next four stones in no time. By the time I finished the fifth stone, the tacky was gone and my arms were completely covered in gravel caused by the newly-made stones being dropped numerous times. I took another glob of tacky and put it on my arms before taking a stab at the final five stones. When I got to the final stone, my tacky was gone again, but by that time, some of the gravel was embedded in my forearms. As I approached the tenth stone, I heard the time keeper tell me that I had 15 seconds to go. It was plenty of time to finish, but when I bent down to pick up the last one, it slid right out of my grasp. Knowing that I wouldn't have enough time to reapply my tacky before the 90 second time limit ran out, I walked away to remove the gravel from my arms, to the dismay of the crowd. Ultimately, I ended up second in the event, which was a big boost for me in points.

As the contest came to a close, I wasn't sure how I did, and I didn't even care to check. I knew I did alright, but with the 265lb competitors lumped in with our weight class, I knew my chances of finishing in the top three and qualifying for Nationals in Las Vegas were slim to none. Just before I left, one of the other competitors told me he thought we tied for fourth, but we'd have to wait for the scorekeepers to determine the tiebreaker. It turned out in my favor as the tiebreaker was determined by who got the most first place finishes, and if neither competitor got an event win, second place finishes. My two second place finishes landed me securely in 4th place.

All in all, it was a really cool contest. The weights were a little light on some of the events, but the Cool Factor in the others more than made up for it. How many people can say they've carried a car? A 231lb competitor took the win, but if it was set up in the traditional weight classes, I would have taken 2nd. It wasn't until after I'd had a few hours to think about it that I realized I had a great day. Hopefully, my training stays at its peak, and the momentum will carry over to my next contest, which happens to be the contest I'm promoting at the county fair in my hometown.

Posted by Ben Hanson at 3:50 PM

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