Saturday July 2nd Brute Strength Gym Held its Star-Spangled Strongman/Women Classic. Although it was a Hot 95* out, Brute holds all of their events (except the Truck Pull) inside with the A/C cranked up. The A/C was working just fine but with 50 Athletes men and women from all over the country it was some Very Heated competition.
A record 9 Women competed. Most of these women it was their first contest. But you could never tell by their performance. Kari Phipps came out on top to win the lightweight class as well as the Women’s overall (This was Kari’s first contest and after only a few short training sessions at Brute) Erin Boyd placed second and Gretchen Alessi was third. The Heavyweight women had a heated competition between Kimberly Berg and KadyRohan. With a one point difference Kim Berg was the first Place Winner (and the only women to get the 130lb Keg) Kady is fast on the Yolk with 11.10 seconds 400lb and 75ft. Third place is once again a new comer with a lot of potential Ashley Sczepaniec. Fourth place Ashleigh Davis and Fifth place Christina Stauber was also a one point difference. Kim Coronel finished up the women for the day. In the future we keep having these many women we will have 3 weight classes.
Novice division was very deep with 15 competitors. Carl Hoittscored high all day long and came out on top with a first place win. Not far from behind was Steve Carbone in second. Charlie Lawrence was a joy to watch all day, he was so excited even at weigh-ins I am sure he is happy with his third place.
Masters Division was a big class as well with 8 athletes. This was an open Masters class (once again we keep having this many Masters we will have and LW/and HW Class) the star of the Masters class was Tim Stallings winning first place. Second place goes to Ronni Armstead and third Tom Simon. A special mention goes to Barry Von Perkins who missed two events but still placed 6th and John Langevin from California who tore his bicep with the final event of the day on 625lb tire flip, still manage to place 5th. (John was upset they cut his New Brute Contest Tee in the hospital) I did manage to get him another shirt. He will have to have a MRI to see how bad it is torn, but we expect to see more of John, we wish him a speedy recovery.
The Under 200lb class brings us the top winner of Jake Rowell (as well as the overall LW Winner) Second goes to Jake Benth out of Wyoming and third to Billy Rohrer.
The 231 class was the most tested class of the day. It was a battle all day finishing up with a 3 way tie for first,all with 35 points. Yes you read that right 3 way tie. Between Ronald Strachan from California, Jason Mullens from NC and Brutes very own Luke Meredith of VA.
Ron is a well decorated strongman with Now 7 wins this year. Ron finished first in 2 events which gives him the tie breaking First place win. Second goes the “Beast of the East” JasonMullens with 2 second place wins, and this brings us to Luke for third. Unfortunately we have to break in down like this for placements. They all were going heavy all day long, for an exciting day. All three are great athletes and I hope to see them do battle again.
Men’s 265 Heavy weight class First place goes to Johnny Wasiczko winning 3 events. Johnny also brought down Brutes New addition to our equipment, the BiggDoggStrongg Yolk. We quickly put it to use for the competition. Jerry Zimmerman places 2nd and Sean Berg (who keeps getting better with every contest he does) received 3rd.
Over 265 class Chad Dunn received first and also the Overall HW winner and Geoff Smith in second.
Special Thank you to “Pinky” the Pink VA Ready Mix Cement Truck that made an appearance for the truck pull. Unfortunately not one person pulled this truck. The length of the truck in the area we had to pull had the back end at an incline. But it was for a Great cause, it is painted Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness. We will see them again and try to pull at a different area. Brute is making a donation to the Susan G. Komen Fund of the Tidewater Affiliate Breast Cancer Awareness.
I can not say enough about Our Brute Crew (all Brute members) they keep everything going smoothly, Their Brute Pride was shining bright and it showed, with quick transitions and resets so no athlete had to wait for their turn and each event just rolled to the next. The runners and score keepers were quick as well. After the last HW event was finished we were ready to announce the other weight class winners. Although our MC Mark Kimener had his own competition in a few days in Philly he volunteered his time and energy and once again did an outstanding job, he really gets the athletes and crowd going.
We are excited for Brutes next Strongman Competition scheduled for Feb 18th,2012 (President’s Day weekend) We will be taking Brute on the Road (well only down the road a bit) We are running a Strongman competition with the Hampton VA Sports Expo.
This is a Bigger Venue and a Bigger Crowd. With Hundreds of Athletes competing in different sports and Thousands of spectators, this is a chance to experience how the pros feel and show case your athleticism. More details and entry will be posted soon.
Stay Strong. See you in February!
Stella Krupinski
General Manager Brute Strength Gym