Roger Saunders 2013 Season Log

[RogerWS76]

Well, we kicked off the season with the small Chilled Kilt Classic in Citrus Heights, CA on January 5th. It was a sunny but cold day. No wind like last year but still pretty cold for Californians. (In the 40's in the AM and warming to the fifties.)


Not a notable day. No PR's but no big embarrasments either. We got to do every event but the Sheaf toss. Field was wet so it was very easy to mark. The implements prettu much stuck where they landed like a gold medal gymnast! An average day for the first time out this year.

Here's how it came out:

Braemar Stone	26'2"
Open Stone	33'
Heavy Weight for Distance	32'10.5"
Light Weight for Distance	43'11.75"
Heavy Hammer	67' 5.25"
Light Hammer	79'5"
Caber	12:00
Weight over Bar	13
Sheaf	N/A

[RogerWS76]

Lookng forward to the Queen Mary Games this weekend! It will be a tough competition. Four guys will be there that I have never placed ahead of yet. My brother, Paul, also joins us in the 50+ Masters this year so it will be fun to throw with him again!!!

I made some discoveries in the weight for distance this week that I think will help. I always have just a little trouble with balance. From watching tape on you tube I noticed that turning my right heel, keeping my toe in place, so that it is in line with the weight coming around until from the back until my foot is perpendicular with and pointing to the left line of the trig BEFORE I start to turn helps my balance a lot AND keeps me from bringing the implement around to early!

I also found on the WoB that taking one small swing back to the side and then up into starting position about shoulder high BEFORE I swing back between my legs helps me get better extension to the back before the big lift! (and it relaxes the shoulder a bit so it can work better as a hinge)

Can't wait for Sunday! Hope to see some of you there!

AND ... my wife, who works most weekends gets to come to so we will celebrate a little Post-Valentines and Pre-Anniversay aboard the Queen Mary Saturday night and then visit Micky and Minnie on Monday and Tuesday!

[Alan H]

I think John McClure won't be there, but I'm sure Richard Campbell will be...and I think that Al Stagner is coming.

Have fun!

[Martin Roy]

Have a great time, Roger. I'm sorry that I won't be there, but I'm just not game ready quite yet.
See you at Bakersfield.

[RogerWS76]

Mark Buchanan is coming too! John says he won't be there.

[RogerWS76]

Queen Mary was great fun! A few Clan members came up from San Diego to watch. The weather was pleasantly cool to even a bit chilly when the wind blew (which wasn't so great for older muscle groups that tightened up)

We started out with the Stones. Braemar was first. Three guys: Stagner, Buchannon and Campbell threw very closely in the 28 foot range from 28 3.5 to 28 11.75. I was able to get a couple of throws over 27, which was the first time I've done that, which I was satisfied with.


Next was the Open Stone. The top two guys, Buchannon and Stagner were within an inch and a quarter of each other at just over 34. I can normally get somewhere close to that but on this day I had the worst performance since I started throwing the rock. It may be because I have been working more on my Braemar throwing but it was awful. Didn't even get to 30 feet. I am going to have to get this back on track!!!

We then went to the Heavy Weight for Distance. I am still only doing one turn on this but getting better at getting to the power position. Need more work but got three thows over 32 feet which is an improvement in consistancy if not PR. The same top three guys ranged from 33-35.

The Lightweight is one where I am feeling better all the time. I need to get consistency in getting to the power position on my second turn. Now that I am feeling more comfortable with it, I need to concentrate more on the delivery. I actually broke into the top three with two tosses over 48.

Heavy hammer was almost a disaster. My first two throws were under 60 feet but then I concentrated on catching the wind and relaxing the shoulders, I got one out over 66. NOT great but at least average and again good enough to crack the top three.

Light Hammer turned into a slugfest. Five of us were over 80 and I edged my brother Paul out for #4 by 2.5 inches. Need more reps on this to keep the rythym correct. Felt so good at the end of last season but I guess it's NOT like riding a bicycle.


Then we did the caber and they didn't pick an easy one. It was one of the SAAA pencils and while not heavy at 72 pounds, the 17.5 foot length made timing critical. On my first try I was literally doing the two step with that piece of wood until I finally ran out of room and had to pull it. I was lucky to get a 65. While I was able to get better control on the next two pulls I still pulled late and ended with a dismal 80, which was only good for fifth place.


Next was Weight over the Bar. By this time the back was pretty stiff and the wind picked up so a LOT of stretching was in order. I came in at 13 (my goal is to come in at 14 by the end of the year but not today!) I hit on the first try on 13 and 14. Hit the second try on 15. There were still 4 of us left when they moved the bar to 16. We all missed our first throws and then Rich popped his second over. On my last two throws I left it out in front but my wife got video proof that I "had the height" which in this isolated circumstance was actually encouraging. It is a strange feeling to throw 15 and only end up 4th!


Last was the Sheaf. I had planned to come in at 22 but while the bag while wound tight was a weird sort of oblong shape so I decided to hop in at 18 for some practice. That may have been a mistake but I made the call. Everyone was in by then so I figured ot wouldn't hurt. I made every toss on the first one up to 24. Then I made the second attempt at 26. That left just Al Stagner and I to try for 28. I DID get close and I think if I had been a step back I may have made it because it peaked before the bar but it is hard to know if that would have helped for sure. IN any case I missed all three and Al finally hit it on his third try for the win.


I couldn't feel bad coming in 4th overall on this group of guys but I sure would like another crack at them some time. It was a fun day. EVERY one of the guys throwiong was a blast to spend time with and get to know. I even found out that Richard Campbell grew up in my Grandfathers home town of Wendell ID where Paul and I used to go every summer to visit Grandpa on his Sheep and Alfafa Farm. Small world! Here's how I ended up.

Overall 4th PLace

Braemar	27' 4"	4th
Open Stone	29' 7.5"	4th
Heavy WFD	31' 10.5"	4th
Light WFD	48' 2.75"	3rd
Heavy Hammer	66' 5.5"	3rd
Light Hammer	82'9"	4th
Caber	80	5th
WoB	15'	4th
Sheaf	26'	2nd

[Martin Roy]

Great results for this early in the season. I'm particularly (envious) ahh, impressed by the lwfd toss. Nice job.

[Alan H]

Good stuff. Tough class at QM, huh? *whew*

[RogerWS76]

It WAS!!! Whens the last time you saw a Masters 50+ class where 15' got you 4th place in WoB!?! For Goodness sakes!!!!

[RogerWS76]

It sure was cold the night before but you could not ASK for a better day to throw than at Sonora on Saturday past. It was a fun group of guys and it was GREAT to see the faces again!!! It was a tight match all the way going back and forth between Alan and I. I'll keep up the running total on points as I go through the events.

We started off with the Braemar Stone. I've beeen working a lot on this trying to get some extra pop. I think I have found that the key is to focus on something in the back of the trig and try to hold that as long as possible. Then maybe my hips will at least START to open before my torso begins to rotate. The first put was awful. About 25. Then the next one was on the 26.5 range in a virtual tie with two or three others. On the last one it felt the best and I got over 27. Not as good or as consistent as the QM but still felt like I could get some more out of it and could improve.

Alan 2
Roger 1

Next was Open Stone. Again my first throw was awful ... sub 30. I think my little shuffle steps have been taking a back seat to the Braemar training and therefore are hurting. My second toss was about 31 but still 4 feet under a PR. I decided to try to synthesize my Braemar training on the next throw and got it out to 34+. I think it was my 2nd best throw ever. Well, I guess it says I have been training Braemar right. So if I get my approach back, and keep those principles in line with it I should see some big improvement.

Alan 4
Roger 2


Heavy Weight for distance was next. Wasn 't feeling it but got a PR on my third throw at just under 35 feet.

Alan 5
Roger 4

In the Light Weight, I am still trying to get the two spin thing to be consistent but on my first throw something tweaked in my right knee on the first turn. Did a little drawer test and it seemd stable but it hurt. I had a knee brace with me, put it on and stuck with one turn on the rest of the throws. Ended up in the 45's.

Alan 6
Roger 6


Then we transitioned to the Sheaf! It was a little scary at first. The bag was an odd rectangular shape that was only about 5 inches deep. We hav3 been spoiled a bit by the new sheaf bags that tend to be more cubic in shape and very dense. They seem to fly farther. I had been watching the C Class struggle with it so I went and tried it a few times. NOw I was even more scared because n all the practice attemps I only got one over at 15. It trended to stick on one side of the fork when you tried to throw it. While it would be the same for everyone it was still disheaertening. Then I saw the problem. On the end of the bag where we were all inserting our forks there was an extra seem that came up the middle of the end of the bag. It was where the fork was catching on the release. Unfortunately I didn't figure that out until AFTER I already came in at 15 because I was spooked by my practice throws. The solution was to simply use the other end of the bag where no offending seam existed! It was it's generally long process. Especially with all 9 of us starting at 15! We got up to 23 where I missed a couple of times then got it on my third toss. Then to 25 where I got it over and was by myself. I would have liked a couple of tries for a PR but the Judge said we had to keep moving. Oh well.

Alan 8
Roger 7

We moved right to the Weight Over bar. It was a unique situation because of a controversial rule change with this particular games organizer. The new rule said that on a fixed bar if the implement touched the bar at all it would be considered a miss. However, on THIS day the bar was not a knock off bar BUT it did not have anything holding it in place on the uprights either except the rope it was attached to. In this case the AD ruled that because it was neither a knock off bar NOR a true fixed bar, the weight COULD hit the bar. Wow! Splitting hairs on a very fine edge here! (I though it was a little hilarious myself but it WAS fair!) Came in at 12 (should have waited until 13) I hit 12,13, and 14 on the first try. There were two of us left and we raised it to 14'6" and we both missed (out of gas I guess) and I won on earlier misses.

Alan 11
Roger 8

Then we trekked out to the horse arena to do Hammers. The horse arena is VERY VERY loose dirt so the games folks had set up a wodden platform to throw from. They even put a steel bar on it to put ones blades under. Great idea. Two problems. The platform was not wide ennough to start the implement on the ground to the side to start your turn for one and t was about 4 inched higher thatn the ground. Not horrible but just enough to throw your start off. Secondly, both my blades would not fit under the bar at the same time. It was too tight to the platform. Then third, it did not feel like it would be good for me if I could not safely get my feet OUT of the apparatus if I needed to. All together kind of just threw us al off a little. On top of that we were trying to rush through because the Jousters were scheduiled to have the field in 15 minutes. ON the heavy hammer we got two rounds of throws in (which were deplorable) and then hafd to cvacate the field and go do the Caber then coem back and finish Hammers when the Jousters were done.

We sauntered over to the Caber field and got right to work. I was first. It wasn't a heavy but it was a little twisted and I never really got the feel for it. I DID have three good turns at 11:30, 11:30 and 11:45 but it was only good enough for 3rd. I just couldn't get that thing to land straight!

Alan 13
Roger 11


Now back to the hammer field to finish heavy hammer. I was feeling pretty loose and more confident after taking my blades off and working from the ground to the side of the trig and my 1st throw felt great! In fact, we measured it and it WOULD have been good enough to win 1st or 2nd in the event ... BUT ... I fouled! Arrgggghhh . I haven't fouled a hammer since my very first games and this one would cost me.

Alan 15
Roger 15
Then we went to the light hammer. Although we all felt a little better it was still kind of sluggish. I even though my first throw at 75'5" might have been enough to win but everyone else kept warming up and I did not. My brother paul hit a 77 and Alan got a 75'6" to leave me in third.

Alan 17
Roger 18

So it was close but Alan edged me out by 1 point! What a day!

Here is how I ended up

Event Distance Place

Braemar	27'2.5"	1
Open	34'10"	1
HWD	34'5" (PR)	2
LWD	45'10"	2
H Hammer	55'8"	4
Light Hammer	75'5"	3
Caber	11:45	3
Sheaf	25'	1
WoB	14'	1

2nd Place overall