Roger Saunders 2013 Season Log

[RogerWS76]

This really WAS a Quick trip! 22 hours of driving and 7 hours of throwing in 45 hours!!!

We left from my brothers house in Orangevale at 6:00 AM Saturday Morning. The drive was pretty good until we got to the San Juan Capistrano area near Dana Point where the traffic slowed to a crawl. We found a great little Italian place to carb up and wait out the traffic. We finally got to our Hotel about 4:30 and then went out to relax on the beach for a while, where we saw a BEAUTIFUL sunset!

(Tried to upload pics still deficient in that area ... any help would be appreciated!)

Sunday Morning

Surprise of all surprises we started off with the traditional stones!!!

Braemar was first. I have seemed to have lost my hips and speed in this event, after a brief awakening. It MAY be due to the fact that we have thrown in 4 of the last five weekends. I certainly hope so because it was a nice visit we were having! I will take solace in the fact that I have been able to stay up over 27 for five straight games now but that 29'8" from a few weeks ago has left me wanting more. My goal is 30 this year! 27"+ started me out in 2nd place!

On to the open brick ... er ... stone. Having found the handle on this thing a few weeks ago at Costa Mesa I was actually feeling good about taking it on! I was able to get a 33+ which I should be happy with but after getting that thing over 35 a few weeks ago it, again, left me wanting! 2nd Place

We then went to the HWD. It is NOT feeling as heavy as it has all year but I really think I have to be able to get up to 35 to be satisfied with it. It will just take more work. After playing with the Gurly Mon LWD in practice I saw some great improvement in the first half of the season so I will now try the same strategy with Old Dude's 35 lb. "English" HWD and see how that works out. Got to 33'. One of my top three throws of the year. 2nd Place

LWD felt very good but I was not getting my legs down for the last turn (even though I DID avoid the bad habit of bending at the waste that I have been trying to kick) Rhythm was good but trajectory was flat and I was fortunate to get it out to 47+. 2nd Place.

Heavy Hammer was next. I was excited about this as Hammers had gone so well at Santa Cruz but I think I over thought it. I did NOT feel the good rotation of my hips that I felt a hint of last week although I DID manage to keep my arms straight and deliver it high. 69+ 2nd Place.

In the light hammer I had great hopes of crashing the 90 gate on this day but it was not to be. Still got three throws over 80 but ended up with 87+ 2nd Place. Noticing a pattern here?

Sheaf was next. We were throwing with the 60's so the bar started at 15 and the muscles started to tighten up for everyone. One of the 60's guys throwing was a chiropractor and he popped my hips around for me which helped a lot but it was still hard to stay loose. It got down to a battle between Rich Campbell and I but he was having some terrific back pain. I was able to clear 26 with one less miss than Rich, who had to bow out after this event. Up until know it had been Rich in 1st Place while I brought up the caboose but I squeaked it out on Sheaf! 1st Place

Next was Weight over Bar and another long wait as they started it at 8 ft for the 60's. Paul and I came in at 13 where only Vern, Paul and I passed. After Vern got his 13 we set the Bar at 13'2" so he could attempt to break his own World Record. He gave three strong pulls but it was not to be this day. Paul and I both cleared 14 and then moved it up a foot. I got 15 on my first try while Paul got very close to making it! We moved the Bar to 16. (My PR is 15'5") I got three really good pulls but I am still leaving it out in front at that height. I sure would like to make that go down this year. I am going to have to get my legs to do THAT work if it's going to happen!!! 1st Place

Finally we got to the Cabers and what a Caber blow out it was. Those Pencil sticks in SoCal were biting the dust left and right all weekend. We ended up using three different Cabers to finish the event and the last one (literally the last one they had) broke on the last throw! I had three good 12:00 throws (although these Cabers have been soaking up the SoCal sun and have lightened up considerably) 1st Place.

So after 6 2nd Places and 3 1st Places and because Rich could not finish due to injury I was able to eek out a win by three points!

Braemar Stone	27'5"	2nd Place
Open Stone	33'8"	2nd Place
HWD	33'	2nd Place
LWD	47'4"	2nd Place
Heavy Hammer	69'4"	2nd Place
Light Hammer	87'3.5"	2nd Place
Sheaf	26'	1st Place
WoB	15'	1st Place
Caber	12:00 (3)	1st Place

[RogerWS76]

Well, the weather was AWESOME on Saturday. Clear and 70. You could see Mt. Raineer very clearly. Had Brunch with my wife at the Space Needle. Then we drove down toward the games. On the way we stopped in a little town called Buckley where we perused the Antique shops in the afternoon. Then we drove by the Expo Center so we knew where to go in the morning and headed to the Claw-B-Q at the Northwest Fork Talk studios. Had a great time visiting and eating some fantastic BBQ tri-tip, chicken and ribs and even some Bacon filled Mac and Cheese!

Sunday was NOT so great. Oh it was AWESOME throwing with 4 World champions who had 17 World Championships between them and are just great guys to boot but my back and hips were hurting. Normally my chiropractor can solve this for me but this week after two visits the pain did not subside.

It was actually my personal worst game, statistically, of the year. The only bright spot was that I did get 4 - 4th place finishes (Open Stone, HWD, Light Hammer and WoB, which means I beat at least one world champ in four events but in the end the Caber got me and I placed last with a 2:30 which slid me from a slight edge for 5th place to the bottom of the barrel. I have to get this back thing figured out. I believe I did it while diving to save a goal (forgetting I was 52 years old) playing goalie in a game of Soccer while on a mission trip to Mexico the week before.

There is a month before Pleasanton with a 10 day vacation to Florida in there so I am hoping I can rest it up while fine tuning some issues.

Braemar Stone	26'8"	6th Place
Open Stone	33'4"	4th Place
HWD	31'6"	4th Place
LWD	46'6"	6th Place
Light Hammer	87'11"	4th Place
Sheaf	22'	5th Place
WoB	14'	4th Place
Caber	2:30	6th Place

[Martin Roy]

Sorry to hear about your back, Roger. Do what you need to do to get it squared away.

[Alan H]

Yeah, not your greatest Games ever, but that's easily changed. I'm sorry about your back...rest that thing and get adjusted and heal up...

BTW, 33 feet with the blasted Open Stone they have up there is pretty good if you ask me! Also, I've always had issues with throwing sheaf at Enumclaw, I don't know why.

[RogerWS76]

You seriously could not ask for better weather this time of year in Pleasanton. 92 and breezy on Saturday and 88 on Sunday.

Saturday

First up was the Open Stone. It was a VERY nice "new" stone that was somewhat compact with a reasonable handle. My first throw was ok at 33'6" and I felt like I had a lot more in me. I let go woithout thinkning too much on the second throw and it passed the 35 ft flag. I waited, holding my breath to see the result and it was 37' 0.5". I was ecstatic but I tried very hard to act like I had been there before but I never had so I am not sure if I did. It was a 16 inch PR and 37 was my goal this season. (It is the first goal I have achieved, this year so far). The good thing is that it didn't feel like a fluke and I believe I can do it again and maybe still improve on it. My last throw was 36'6" for my second best put EVER! It was good for 2nd place and THAT in a crowd that included guys like Mark Buchanon, John McClure, Kel Mulray and Rich Campbell.

Next was heavy hammer. I am coming to believe that it is almost time to put the left hammer boot on; as when I am trying to get more length in my arms and moving my hips more I tend to lose contact with the ground and it throws me off. But ... I got a respectable 68'9" which was good for 5th.

We went to the Light weight for distance trig. This was where I totally bombed last year with a 39 foot throw that almost did me in mentally. I have only gotten a few throws over 50 this year but I AM getting a little better at using my legs AND doing two turns now but I have to work so hard at concentrating on keeping my knees bent still that I am not getting any push on the throw, NOR getting into the power position frequently. However, I did keep my head about me and got in the 48 ft territory. Now this is how tough the field was. My 39' throw last year put me in 9th place. I improved it by almost 10 feet this year and it was only good enough for 7th place!!!

It was after lunch now and we went out to the track to do Caber and WoB. We picked the green and white caber which is 17' and 85#. It turned into a shoot out. 10 out of 12 people turned it. I have never SEEN that before. I won the Dixon games last year with a 80 degree score with this caber. I managed an 11:50 which was only good for 6th place!!! There were two 12:00s, 11:57, two 11:55s!!!

Them we went to the WoB. I know what I did here this day. I pulled too early. I am still debating with myself about coming in at 14 and still not trusting myself to do it. I think that is part of my issue and the not trusting part took away my edge. I left it out front on my first throw at 13. made my second, then made my first at 14 EASILY. I saw a pic of it and it seriously could have almost made 16. BUT ... at the time I didn't see that and my confidence was just a lttle off. You can't afford that in the WoB. I missed 3 attempts (the first two out front and high enough) at 15 and settled for 4th place.

With all that I ended up in a tie for 4th at the end of the first day. Not bad, but I would have felt a LOT more confident if I was in this position with WoB and Caber still to come. As it was, we had Braemar, Heavy Weight for Distance and Light Hammer left. With the folks in this competition I was going to have to pull out PRS in every event to even stay in 4th.

Sunday

We started with the Light Hammer. I felt good. I felt like I had some length to my arms but I need more. Again I felt some instability in my left foot. (Do I need a hammer boot on it? I think so in order to be able to lift my heels more when the hammer is behind me in order to bend my knees more BY rotating my hips better. The question is, do I wait for off season or do it now.) I got three thows over 80 which is usually cause for celebration but I needed a PR over 90 just to keep up. Didn't happen. Had to settle for 86 and change and 5th place. So I dropped out of the tie with Kel and into 5th. Now I was just trying to stay out of 6th, which I told myself was not a bad place to be with this group of guys.

Heavy Weight for Distance was up. I am still doing a one turn on this and my PR is just over 34. I felt I needed a 35 or better just to keep up and I wasn't far off. My first throw was about 32. not terrible for me but not great. My second was 33 and a half feet and I was pretty solidly in 5th at the time which meant I wouldn't lose too much ground so I decided to try a two spin. What could it hurt? I was about 2 feet ahead of the closest person at that point and there was only one person behind me (my brother, Paul, who's best had been about 31 that day). So I did it. I stayed low, I felt good. Not quite to the power position but balanced and with my knees bent rather than my waist. It only got to about 32 and a half but I felt good about it. Then Paul came up and calmly threw a PR out to 34'1" and dropped me to a 6th place finish in the event! Well, I STILL felt good with my two spin toss so it wasn't a total loss. We also kept the leader at the time down to 7th place which gave us all a little more breathing room.

The last event was Braemar Stone. I have been somewhat inconsistent with this event. However I had practiced the stones with the simple thought of hips, then shoulder, them arm and while practice didn't portend anything great, the repititions paid off in the adrenaline of the warm Pleasanton day. My throws this year had ranged from 25'3" to 29'8" but I hadn't had one much over 27' in five games. But my first throw was over 28, then my wife, Trish, showed up and I tossed one out to 29' 7.5", a half inch off my PR (Paul told Trish she could go home now. Ha!). My last put was also over 28 for my best set ever. BUT even at that it was only good enough for 5th place as two guys put 29'8", one over 30' and one got a 32'. It was really a good bunch of throwers. Well, when they tallied it all up I came out in 5th place. I could NOT be embarrased about that in this crew. In fact I am very proud of how it went. Do I want to do better? Heck yeah, but it was my second best game of the year (coming off my WORST game of the year in Enumclaw). It was my 3rd best game ever in the 42 I have played and it happened at the biggest games of the year. I had to be happy with that. I also compared it to last years Pleasanton games and over all I threw the heavy stuff 26 feet farther than last year. It was a good weekend.

In the Pleasanton Caber Championships in the afternoon I surprised myself by holding on to first place until the last two tosses when my brother went ahead of me with an 11:57 and then Mark Buchanon rolled a perfect 12:00. Third in the Caber wasn't bad. Then in the WoB I just didn't have it again. I made 13 this time on my first try but then missed my first at 14, got the 2nd and then missed 3 at 15 to come in 5th overall. need to get more reps with this so I feel confident again. Maybe Fresno is the place to come in at 14. It's where I first came in at 13 two years ago. It may be time!

Braemar	29'-7.5"	5th
Open Stone	37'-0.5"	2nd
HWD	33'-6"	6th
LWD	48'-2"	7th
HH	68'-9"	5th
LH	86'-4"	5th
Caber	11:50	6th
WoB	14'	4th

Overall 5th Place!

[Alan H]

You did really well. You just LAUNCHED that O stone PR, it was amazing to watch.

That was a seriously tough crowd to throw with. I'm sure you're a bit frustrated by some things, WOB for example, but all up, I think you did a great job. Also, Paul is just coming along, gangbusters. That was an enormous HWFD throw!

If you want to go to Ventura, you need to register really soon, there are only 2 slots left in our class!

[RogerWS76]

I just emailed Paul's and my forms to Ryan yesterday!

[RogerWS76]

Just got the email from Ryan that Paul and I are all set! Whew!!!

[Alan H]

Just got the email from Ryan that Paul and I are all set! Whew!!!

Excellent! That fills up the class. Last I looked, it was at 10 and he only takes a dozen per class!

You can beam me a little mojo when the sheaf bar goes to 26! You got all mine when the WOB bar goes to 16!

[o1d_dude]

Those are all great numbers, Roger. Pleasanton is world unto itself and sometimes they turn up the gravity there. Personally, last year was my best year in recent memory for the hammers but my caber sucked.

Your Braemar Stone goal is now 30'+ and I'd really like to see you hit 40' in the Open.

You are in the sweet spot of the training and throwing curve. That's the point where you're really starting to get the hang of it and are still young/strong/explosive enough to deliver the mail. Use this time wisely.