Some wild stuff you may have missed, if you were busy recovering on Games day:
Aaron Bell, the man of mystery, arriving at 8:45pm the night before the Games, offering to help set up. He hadn't even been to a hotel yet. We were all loaded up, so he settled for flipping the tire.
The womens' deadlift. Unbelievable that, after a mile run in the very cool, damp morning, there were so many personal bests: first Anna hammered a huge 275 to set the bar; then Carolle matched it; Jess King hit 275lbs with 30 seconds left, and threw 10 more pounds on to get ANOTHER huge lift with 00:13 on the clock; and MaryAnn, winning it all as the last lifter of the last flight, with her first-ever 300lbs lift. That was the first time all day that I couldn't hear myself, even with the mic; the crowd noise was deafening.
The mens' run. 3 guys went under 6:00, and then turned around to lift 435lbs and above. What a bottleneck at 455lbs after the first event! If Brent Rose had made that last lift, he would have won the Games. That's how close it was at the end.
Ted Fryia with the fastest first round on Event #2, and one of the top overall. Jeremy took over eventually. Steve Leroux ripping out a HUGE lead, then tripping over the box on his very last jump, touching it with his hand, and having to return to cross it again after crossing the finish line. Had his hand not hit that box, he could have won the Games (yes, it's a recurring theme....)
Marnie Scott on the OHS. You don't know what she went through on every. single. one. of those babies.
Watson moving into his new house the day before, waking up disoriented, and still being the first volunteer judge to arrive.
Lunch: Quinn Currie winning one of the 3 kids' events. Awesome. He brought me an autographed, framed picture of himself pulling the sled.
Glen and Amy showing up at 5:45am, and helping me put stuff away at 6pm. And then saying "thanks for letting us!" and meaning it. Wow.
Event #3: the Steve Leroux / Cam Wilson footrace. I've seen it from every angle now. Steve was out front; Cam was catching up. They both turned around from the final box at the same time. They traded the lead over 50m, and Steve surged at the very last second to win by a step. A massive win that I never get tired of watching. In fact, the question I hear most is, "Where were you when Steve and Cam crossed that line?"
Aaron Bell getting through the entire event #3. He's muscular, but big, and that much weight is hard to skip, no matter how solid. He hammered through that last shuttle in obvious pain, starting it without much hope of finishing on time, and coming within 3m of making it. Believe me, I was counting as slowly as I could as he stumbled toward the line with Adrian.
Event #4: Alecia getting her one rep on the Clean and Jerk. Close to a PR, she stuck on that mat for 12:00 straight, and when she locked that bar overhead, the stands went crazy.
Dynamic Scaling - lived and died at this event. Our goal: keep you reaching for the highest level possible. The reality, unfortunately: it's almost impossible to keep rankings up-to-date when people switch back and forth between categories. That led to some inconsistency on the final rankings, though the top finishers weren't effected. Esther got some free flowers, but she deserves them.
Lori winning that cruise. I yelled louder than I did all day. Last year, I had to drag her into FranFest; she signed up for the Games with about three weeks to go. But she played HARD all day, hammered Event #4, and is taking a little vacation because of it.
Whit. She organized - right down to buying everyone clipboards and pens with their athletes' names, event rules, and heats on them. Hug that girl if you can catch her.
Paquin. All damn day, I thought he was in first place overall. He just seemed to dominate. If you look at the rankings, you'll see why: the guy killed everything. I can think of a thousand ways the day could have ended differently.
Troy GIVING that cruise. Totally unsolicited, he emailed me and offered a prize. I suggested sponsoring the flowers. He suggested a 5-day tropical cruise. Then, at the last minute, he kicked in port fees (about $400!) just because he could. What a guy. Sell your house, even if you don't want to.
Carrie Smale competing...36 hours after she'd learned to power clean and OHS. There's a reason she's headed to Nationals for swimming, folks.
Vance Henson lifting Cindy off the stage after Event #4. He signed up for a gym membership the next day, and you'll see him in the Frat, brothers.
Our new friend Karl (the math guy,) fitting in just fine with 100 adults.
Ben Carroll and Keri Schinkel. Both KILLED all day. Ben attacked every event so hard, I thought he'd burn out quick, but his heart is way too big. He was a flash of brilliant orange from start to end. And Keri just seemed....solid. Consistent. They're getting married next week. Who can blame them?
Betty-Lou and Deb on the podium. Esther box-jumping onto it.
Me running the fastest 50m sprint of the day when Leroux's kid locked himself in the little office alone.
Anna doing the ENTIRE THING Rx'd. This was her third year competing. In her first, she sprinted the last 20m of Murph (which was the 3rd event!) to beat Matt Keating at the line.
THE PHOTOGRAPHY. Unbelievable. I can't pick a top 10, let alone a favourite. 2000 submitted already, culled from (I'm told) over 5000 pictures.
The Coast Guard ship anchored 20 feet from our event, pulling up anchor and setting ship in the middle of Event #3. And NO ONE noticed.
Got memories? Of course you do! Post below!
