World's Strongest Man Super Series Grand Prix 2008
So last night I attended the World's Strongest Man Super Series Grand Prix 2008 at Mohegan Sun. Those of you who know me know how much a fan of this competition I am. Seeing it in person was amazing. The people competing last night were pretty well known people. Bill Kazmeier (3 time champion) was there doing play-by-play and Svend Karlsen (2001 champion) did commentary from the floor. The biggest name competing was by far Poland's Mariusz Pudzianowski, who has won four of the last 5 years. He may be the greatest of all time. Also competing was 58 year old Norwegian Odd Haugen. He is pretty amazing to watch.
So while Mariusz was the most well-known there, a lesser known man was the crowd favorite. Derek Poundstone is a CT policeman and currently holds the title as America's strongest man. If anyone can beat Mariusz, it is him.
Thirteen men competed in 4 events last night, with the best six advancing to compete in 2 more events. The first event was a medley. They had to flip over an 800 lb. tire 4 times, then carry a 800 lb apparatus 50 feet. This event was a good test of all-around strength. Poundstone may have been the fastest at this event, but he slid over the finish line and did not get credited with completing the event. So he started out disappointingly in 9th place. The crowd was a little bummed.
The second event was an overhead press using 2 slot machines as the weight. I believe they weighed about 330 pounds. Competitors had to press them from should height straight up as many times as they could. The motion was purely a test of shoulders and triceps. I don't remember all the standings but both Derek and Mariusz did very well.
The 3rd event was a yoke. Competitors had to carry an 800 pound weight behind their neck across the floor as fast as possible. Its amusing watching these guys try to run with their giant legs, but its amazing that they can even lift these things.
The 4th event was the car hold. Competitors had to hold the back end of a car off the ground for as long as possible. Important to note is that my parents drive the same car as was used here. Mark Felix absolutely dominated this event, going at least 20 seconds beyond anyone else. Grip is clearly his strength, as he demonstrated here. After 4 events, Mark Felix was in 1st, I believe Mariusz was in 3rd and Poundstone in 5th.
The 5th event is probably my favorite of all time. Its the husafell stone. The real husafell stone is in iceland somewhere. This is a reproduction. Its basically a 400 pound rock with no easy handles or anything. Competitors have to carry it as long as they possibly can. They carry it to one end of the floor, turn around, and go back, as many times as they can. Poundstone was phenomenal on this event. After 5 events, Mariusz was back on top and Derek Poundstone was in 3rd. The only way Poundstone could win was to win the final event and have Mariusz finish 3rd.
The final event, as is traditional, was the atlas stones. Competitors must lift 5 stones onto a ledge, ranging from 240 to 420 pounds (or something like that). No one got all 5 stones, everyone got exactly 4. So the final results came down to timing.
The results? Derek Poundstone wins. The local hero from CT defeated the current reigning world's strongest man. The people in the arena went nuts, including Poundstone himself, pictured left. I'm sure we'll be hearing from him a lot in the future.
For the rest of my pictures, go here.
So I finished my first cut at making a new theme for Gallery. I got rid of the stupid sidebar thing that was taking up too much space and I centered most of the text and images. Also bumped the thumbnail size up to 200px and moved the slideshow and search links to the bar across the top.
