King Kong 2025

Joe, Kevin, Andrew, Mark, Cathy, Herb, Josh, Kim

Curt, Sanjiv, Louis

Marc and Akeem again hosted a King Kong venue.  This time we were at Gym No 5, an amazing strongman facility in north Boulder, Colorado.

I did not even bother, trying to make weight as I came in at 95.2 kg (93 kg was not in the cards).

I had a really good session:

• Crusher - 97.1, 112.1, 122.1, 125.1 (56.8 kg), 130.1 pounds.  This is a PR!  I got 55.7 in 2024 and 56.2 in 2023.
• Hub - 31.1, 36.1, 38.6, 41.1, 43.1, 45.1, 47.1, 50.25, 55.35 (25.2 kg), 60.40 pounds.  (10) was a ridiculous number of attempts, but I was lifting much better here than at home in practice.  PR!
• Thumb Blaster - 42.65, 50.20, 52.75, 57.75, 62.90, 65.5 (R, 29.8 kg), 70.5 pounds.  PR! and I felt stronger with my left hand at home
• Little Big Horn - 84.7, 104.6, 114.6 (52.1kg), 124.4 pounds.  I was off of last year's PR of 55.62 kg, but still very happy with this lift and glad I made a 10 pound jump at the end

Very friendly crowd.  Joe was newer to grip.  Kevin helped arrange the venue.  I competed with Andrew, Cathy, Marc and Louis last year.  Kim was there.  Herb was a beast.  Josh was friendly and brought some home made stall mat grip implements to share.  Curt brought stickers that her ordered from Plate Snacks.

It will be interesting to see how I stack up overall when the official results are posted.

It was pretty slow going.  I arrived at 8:45 AM for a scheduled 9:00 AM weigh in.  We got started around 10:00 AM and did not finish until 3:00 PM.  It was a lot of fun and it seems like the Discord group is going to be a good weight to keep up with athletes in the future.

Tips - Bring real food for lunch, smelling salts, hand sanitizer and my own Spider Chalk for grip events.

UPDATE:  Results

278/295 men; 48/52 Men's 105kg; 8/9 Men's Master's 50+, 105kg; 

Jacob 78th

Marc 129th

Joe 189th

Curt 210th

Louis 219th

Joshua 226th

Kevin 252nd

Andrew 289th

Katherine 43rd overall women

Kim 52nd overall women, 2nd Women's Masters (50+; 72kg) (41.77 - 18.66 - 21.61 - 34.99)

My lifts (top lift in my class) - Pound for Pound - =360.55/209.4 = 1.72x (top ten 3.45x

• Crusher - 56.74 (99.78) - elite 120% of bodyweight
• Hub - 25.10 (47.05) - elite 55% of bodyweight
• Thumb Blaster - 29.71 (47.57) - elite 65% of bodyweight
• LBH - 51.98 (97.86) - elite 130% of bodyweight

Carbondale - Jaland (22nd), Steve Millard, Jeremy Everding, Michael Rogowski, Jesse Hagedorn, Sarah Chappelow, Megan Hagedorn, 

Ben Edwards - 225th (Lecompton with Chad Gustin, Ace Gustin, Elle Gustin)

65.55 - 26.18 - 32.27 - 74.73