Roger Saunders 2012 In-Season Log

[Alan H]

HUGE throws day for you....88 foot light hammer? WOW. 50 feet again in the LWFD and PR's in Braemar and HWFD. Carlos better be lookin' over his shoulder!!

[o1d_dude]

I just looked up the scores on NASGA.

Seems like with at LEAST three people in each age group, they would have gone all the way and broken the single class down to ten year age brackets.

BTW, that would have given you first place in 50-59's.

Sounds like you had a great trip.

Have fun. Throw far.

[RogerWS76]

Pleasanton!

Well, it was an up and down ride this last weekend but about as much fun as I have ever had in a competition. I really like the idea of spreading it out over two days. In retrospect, it seems good to be able to give it everything for 5 events a day rather than 9 BUT ... it didn't translate into any PRs like I thought it might.

We started off with the Open 16 lb. stone. Normally one of my best events but started off slow. Finally (as the story of the weekend was bound to go) I pulled out a 32 foot throw to get 3rd place.

Then the wheels fell off when we went to the lightweight for distance. I have been trying to reform my delivery on this one for the 5 weeks leading up to PLeasanton but it did not kick in and even after returning to my old style for the 3rd throw it was so bad that I ended up in 9th place. 12 Points was NOT the way to reach my goal of finishing in the top three in this group of talented individuals. I was clearly discouraged. Old Dude could see it on my face even though I tried to hide it and keep my chin up. I didn't see how I was going to crawl out of that hole!

The 3rd event of the day was the Heavy Hammer. I have been practicing a bit with my new Hammer Boots which help hold you down while one spins the hammer over the head in preparation to throw but was NOT confident. My first throw (a pattern here) was a disaster but I settled down to at least get into the 60s which was good enough for 5th place. So much for digging out of a hole I thought and determined to just let things fly from here on out because I had nothing to lose with 17 points after three events I was firmly ensconced in 6th place which I thought was pretty lucky at the time.


After lunch we went out to the grandstands to do the Caber and the Weight over the Bar. WoB was first and I decided to chance coming in at 13. I have been doing that foer a few games now but it was taking a chance because the rest of my performance ahd been pretty meager so far but I told my self to just forget about it. There was no chance of digging out of the hole I created so I might as well go for it. Old Dude joked that he was going to come in at 17 so he could say that he went OUT at 17 and he got me laughing which helped a lot. I was a little worried that the layoff from lunch and waiting to throw at 13 when a lot of the guys started at 11 would stiffen me up but I stretched and kept loose so that helped. I cleared 13 easily and then 14 went down. There were 3 of us left and 14'6" would have been a PR for one of the guys so we only went up 6 inches. That one went down and then there were only 2 left. We both agreed to go to 15. I hadn't cleared 15 in a game since April so I let it tighten me up a little and threw it out in front on my first throw. Told myself to settle down when the next throw cam up and I was able to get it over but Dennis hit it on his first try. We raised it to 16 and both of us missed all three attempts so Dennis placed first and I placed second. I was feeling alot better, even though my original goal was out of sight, because I had at least tied a PR in one event!

Next was Caber. We knew it was going to be a tough one but they DIDN'T bring out the nemesis Lyon Caber that has been baffling a lot of us all year as we expected. Instead they brough out a green and white stick with a bend in it about 5 feet from the top. These are notoriously hard to score with because the bend is not easy to judge AND it's not easy to turn and today it was windy AND the track at Pleasanton has a slope to it. All factors for making it hard to score. I decided to turn the bended end into the slope to help with balance and to ignore the wind as it was behind us and choose to believe it was my ally. Picks were good. I did do quite a little dance with my second pick but I was able to throw a 12:10 which actually stood in first place for a couple of rounds until Kel Mulrey decided to quit goofing around and lay down a perfect 12. BUT ... it was second place for me ... two events in a row. I started to wonder if it was enough to help me fight back. When I went to check the scores I was VERY surprised to find out that I had indeed slipped back into 3rd place by the tiniest of margins. There were at least 3 other guys within 4 points of third as well. It was going to be REALLY close the next day.

On Sunday we started out with the Light Hammer. It is ALWAYS hard to start of a day with hammer and I personally have been AWFUL in that circumstance. I started off true to form. I have been working a lot on drills to keep my arms long throughout the wind up but apparently I have not worked near enough on my delivery. That and my determnation to put everything into it resulted in a couple of beautiful long armed, head back out of the way winds but then I alligator armed the release to the extreme pleasure of all of my good throwing pals who, rightfully so, but still unmercifully, mocked my attempt by walking around with there arms pulled up to their chins in gleeful laughter ... to which all I could do was laugh too because it was utterly ridiculous! I still have no idea how short that throw was but it was AWFUL. Well, their mocking gave me the incentive to not do the same thing twice and on my second throw I got a respectable if not good throw of 76 and change. Well, I knew who I couldn't lose to to keep my tenuous hold on 3rd place so I checked what their scores were so I could know best how to pray for help. As it turned out two of the four of us tied so closely together had thrown an 81 and an 82. I went into the cage determined to do the best I could and relax. My throw went to the extreme left of the sector so I couldn't be sure what the measurement was but when I looked down at the judge and the tape I breathed a sigh of relief ... 83'3" Whew! Two more events to go!

We walked across the field to start the Heavy weight for distance. I was still in third place but the next guy was only 2.5 points behind. I couldn't repeat my choke in the light weight for distance from the day before. I felt pretty good when my first throw was a 30 but I knew that wouldn't be good enough for even third place in this event. But it felt good so I just relaxed and on my 2nd throw I got a semi-respectable 32+. It was a little nerve wracking because the guy just behind me in the standings was throwing 34 foot bombs consistently. In the end I had to live with the fact that even though I got third I was back to only 1.5 points seperating me from the one right on my tail!

Next came the Braemar stone. It has to be over 22 lbs. and someone said that this one was 23. I walked up for my first toss and threw it 23 and SMALL change. I KNEW that wouldn't be good enough but I could only hope everyone else would have a little trouble as well. No such luck. I tried not to worry but after my second throw was only 23 and just a little bit MORE change I was worried. I realized that I had not been aiming high with my throws so on my third attempt I picked out a tree on the skyline about a hundred yards away and committed myself to hitting the top of it's branches and I missed by about 81 yards but the rock travelled 26 and a half feet which was good enough for 3rd place in the event. It also meant that there was just enough to squeak by and come in 3rd place overall. I could hardly believe it. After such a disappointing start it was pretty cool to be able to come back. Wow!

Summary:

Braemar Stone: 26' 6.5" 3rd
Open Stone: 32' .25" 3rd
Light Weight 39' 9" 9th
Heavy Weight 32' 3.5" 3rd
Light Hammer 83' 3" 3rd
Heavy Hammer 61' 8" 5th
Weight over Bar 15' 2nd
Caber 12:10 2nd

Overall 3rd Place

After the aggregate competiton was over we went out to the main grandstands again and competed in two individual championships.

First was the Annual Pleasanton Caber Championship. They brough out a Caber that was pretty tough. Only 16.5 feet tall but it weighted 95 lbs. It was top heavy but tough to handle. I got it turned once but only about a 1:30 score. the next two times the Caber beat me. However, Alan Hebert OWNED that caber that day and threw three GREAT full turns to be 2012 Caber Champion! It was BEAUTIFUL to watch!!!

Next was the Weight over Bar event. I again decided to come in at 13. 13 feet and 14 feet went well and then I got my first toss over at 15. By then it was just Dennis and I again and he came up and barely glanced the bar at 15 on his first throw but it still fell off. He then proceeded to easily clear it on his second throw. Then they asked us where we wanted the bar to be set. I have never made 16 before but neither has Dennis so far this year so I called for 16 knowing that if we both missed all three I would still win because I had hit 15 in my first try. Dennis, wisely, held out for 15 and a half. It was up to the judge! He decided on 15' 6". This was OK with me, I had to try to play the strategy best I could. The Judge even comlimented me for knowing WHY I asked for 16. I told him I was OK with 15.5 cuz if I hit it it would be a PR so I was good either way. We both made our best try at this height but it wasn't to be. we both missed all three atttempts which left me as the 2012 Weight for Height Champion! What a way to end the day!


On top of all that while back in the shaded area for athletes our Judge, Mark, walked up to me with a beautiful original print of the Game T-shirts all framed and told me I had won the Judges award. I asked him what that was and he grinned at me and told me it was for the thrower in his group who irritated him the least! I shook his hand and told him I was honored!


It was a great weekend. One of my goals the last three years was just to get a chance to play in these great Calidonian Club of San Francisco games and just being there was truly a privelege and an honor. But even more fun was getting to just be there throwing with a bunch of guys who are truly becoming great friends!

[Alan H]

Ha! What Roger isn't saying is that the guy on his tail all day was me!

The Games are fun but it's even more so when you have great competition between your mates, and we had that going on, in spades last weekend. You pulled it out twice in your last throws to get those points you needed, once with the light hammer and once with the Braemar stone. To do that, even after your complete meltdown with the light weight for distance shows that you've got some "stuff" goin' on! Guid on ye, my friend!

Be proud of that trip up to the podium, you earned it!!!

[Martin Roy]

Belated congrats on your performance at Pton, Roger. As you know, I just got in here. Missed you at Fresno and hope to see you at Dixon.

Marty

[RogerWS76]

I missed Fresno too! My wife had some surgery on Fraiday that was a little unexpected or I would have been there. I WILL be at Dixon!!!

[RogerWS76]

Big Weekend on the field

On Saturday, at the Dixon Highland Games threw in the Masters 50-54. One big advantage showed up early when perennial winner, Kel Mulrey was drafted to be our judge. Now we knew we were fighting for first place rather than 2nd.

We started with the Weights. This has been very discouraging for me because while trying to find a way to do better, I found a way that looked UGLY and was about as far off of good technique as one could get. However I had managed to get consistent tosses around 50 for a few games. Then to prepare for Pleasanton I tried to work on getting the technique right and promptly dropped off to under 40 feet at the big games. I then recommitted in the practices since then to persevere even though my emotions were saying, "you idiot, you can throw it 50 the ugly way". It also reduced my 2-3 game average of 33 in the HWD to under 30. Man, hard to take. I had high hopes for Dixon but in the first event, HWD, i again managed to NOT break even 30.

It was hard to stay with it but in LWD I stuck with my training. My first two throws were 41 and 42. I was VERY tempted to give it up but I didn't and threw out a little more encouraging 46 but that is still 6 inches UNDER my best throw LAST YEAR. This is pretty tough for me but I am still gonna stick it out. Hope something breaks soon!

The good news was that even with those poor performances I still came out on top in both events.

The next event was the Light Hammer. It sure was starting to get hot when we went to the cage that was set up on the field in the direct sun with no shade as the thermometer began to climb. I have to say that we were lucky because it was still relatively early so it was MUCH better than doing it in the afternoon! I have been using a hammer blade on my right foot. It seems to be helping me keep my wind to the right but is still very new. The HUGE benefit I had in this event was that the Saturday before OldDude had introduced ne to his Hammer routine where we threw three or four times each starting with an eleven pound hammer and graduating to 12, 14, 16 and 22 lbs for a toral of about 15-20 total reps. BUT ... the BEST part of the practice was that OldDude helped me figure out how to "catch" the weight each time as I brought it around. Also, JUST as important he was able to teach me how to "LIFT" the implement rather than just SWING it like a baseball bat. I felt like I learned more about hammer in those two hours than the rest of the time I've worked on it altogether. The outcome on Saturday was that I had all three throws over 80 or the first time ever and ended up with an 85 foot throw.

Next we did the stones. Here again I an trying to change up and get my technique right. In this case its not just because I need to do it better but because I'm gonna tear my elbow up if I don't. The first couple of throws were awful but then I remembered to aim high and got out over 27. Then in the Open Stone I repeated the same process and looking up at the last throw got a disappointing 31. However, the rest of the guys were doing well too so with two events to go, I only led by 1 point.

Next came the Weight over bar. I was able to hold off coming in until 13 and hit my first try. The rest of the guys had trouble with it so I was able to win. I then took a two tries at 14 and got the second but felt a little twinge in my back so decided to let that be enough for the day.

The last event was Caber. We drew the same green and white Caber we threw 0n the track at Pleasanton and after turning it three times there it kicked my butt in Dixon. I am sure however, that a few thousand people watching at Pleasanton helped quite a bit and the heat with almost no breeze contributed but even after all the explanations it was still a little embarrassing to only get a 70 degree score. The only thing maybe worse than that was that 70 degrees was enough to win.

So in the end the scores came out like this:

Braemar 27' 2"
Open 31' 2.5"
HWD 28' 9.5"
LWD 46' 4"
Light Hammer 85' 8.5"
WoB 14'
Caber 70 degrees

Then on Sunday we went to Grass Valley where the KVMR Celtic Music festival has a small competition. I expected to throw in the B division but my brother Paul came and there were a couple other Masters guys there so we all threw Masters. However it was a very weird situation. One of the things i was looking forward to was Sheaf toss but we were told the uprights might not handle it. So in an attempt to talk them into it, I suggested we do sheaf last so a malfunction wouldn't be a problem. It was then that the real reason for not having Sheaf came out. They had forgotten to bring the sheaf! Then the next problem came up. There were no weight over the bar implements at all. No woman's, no masters not even a 56. Hmmm. So what was the fix? Well it was a rather dubiously weighed 53 pound kettle ball. Well I had never HEARD of a 53 lb. Kettle ball before but that was the claim so I didn't argue. I figured i might be like some of the strange looking WoBs I've seen on YouTube in Scotland.

After all that, there were only 8-9 of us throwing in one group but we still started with the hammers. At least it was Heavy Hammer. I still need to work more with this one but the lessons learned DID kick in and while there was no DISTANCE breakthrough there was a DEFINITE height breakthrough as I found I could catch it and lift this heavy weight too after OldDudes hammer workout. I got a decent 66. I also realized that I could help keep my head out of the way on the winds AND keep my low point on the right better if I actually looked up TO THE RIGHT as well, as I "caught" the weight!

Then we threw the light hammer and I was VERY happy when the judge AND announcer told me that there was such a thing as too much hieght but I was VERY pleased that I was ABLE to get a LOT of height out of it because it meant i was "getting" the lifting part down. PLUS the throws were still over 80 so I wasn't JUST throwing it high! I ended up with my first PR of the weekend with an 88!

Next was the weird WoB. It felt funny as there was no swing to the kettle ball weight of course so when 12 was enough to win I didn't push it. It didn't feel like it was really gonna help my technique although I could see the kettle ball helping with some strength issues needed for WoB. However one would have to be careful not to get any bad habits from a kettle ball workout.

We then went to weight for distance and my frustration continued as my performance was slightly better in the Heavy at 31 but I could only break 41 in the light weight ... MUCH worse. My brother, Paul actually beat me in the Light weight with a 43 foot toss that was a 3 foot PR! Nice job!

Stones were slightly better than Saturday. Braemar was only 26 but it's a pancake of a stone that has NO handle. However in the Open stone I got a respectable 33.

Finally we got to Caber. My first throw was an 85 with an SAAA like pencil. My brother, Paul got a 65 and I was hoping this wasn't another degree only day but on my second turn I got a 12 while Paul got a 10:30. on my next pull I was befuddled by the pencilness again and only got a 65. Then Paul threw a perfect 12 and took me down. He really is getting a good feel for the Caber.

In the end I came out ahead of Paul on points 12 - 17 but it was VERY enjoyable competing against Paul again. I am looking forward to next year when he joins us in the 50s!

Here's the totals:

Braemar 26' 5"
Open 33'
HWD 30' 2.5"
LWD 41' 2"
Heavy Hammer 66' 5"
Light Hammer 88' 7"
WoB 12' (53 lb. Kettleball)
Caber 12:00

[Martin Roy]

You and Paul get extra points for throwing two days in a row at two different events. But, the KVMR guys forgot the sheaf (!) and tried to blame the uprights (!!) and then they didn't have a wob (!!!)...That's not good. Was it an SAAA event?

[Alan H]

I saw that you threw again on Sunday. YOU, my friend...are a Beast. I was wiped out on Sunday, had to take a nap and went to bed about 10 PM!

Stick with the "throwing right" thing. Seriously. It takes a while but it WILL pay off.

Congratulations on the hammer PR! 88 is gettin' serious!.... so is that 3x over 80 feet at Dixon.

[o1d_dude]

Yes, the hammer field at Dixon was the closet thing NorCal has to its own Death Valley. We threw in the afternoon right after lunch and it basically put me out of the games.

Trust the technique! It will pay dividends once you fully embrace it. The numbers will follow.

I can't believe they forgot the sheaf and the WOB implement for Grass Valley.