

Ontario has not seen a Conan’s Wheel at any competition in many years, so Giles Sharpe, the organizer of this competition approached Conan’s Wheel cautiously for newer competitiors at this event. The weight started at 350 lb. and increased as follows: 450 lb., 500 lb., 550 lb., 600 lb. Each competitor had to take each attempt and complete a 360 degree turn with the wheel in under 20 seconds. Cumulative time dictated who would win the event. Having practiced up to 650 lb. in training, I knew the top-weight wouldn’t be an issue for me. Knowing that the time was cumulative, I had to be very fast on every attempt. It was good that I had the opportunity to practice the event, as the speed I pushed each attempt with made it very precarious as any little stumble could have cost me placings. There were also some other athletes who were pushing the pace incredibly fast through all the attempts as well. The hardest part of the Conan’s Wheel for me is the initial pick, as I literally have to do a super-wide stance squat just to have bar start at a parallel squat. This causes the pick to be quite slow for me and takes a few seconds to get the bar lifted and into position to start walking with. Some of the other athletes had significant advantages on the pick height and got off to a faster start than me. I still managed to be fast enough by getting off to a good, fast start on earlier attempts and keeping the time short when the attempts were easier. I ended up in 1st place with a time of just over 50 seconds total, or about 10 seconds per attempt.

TIL: Knowing when to ramp up fast or slow depending on the rules of an event. It’s not always best to ease into the lighter lifts on ascending bar.



Event 4 - Carry and Load Medley



Three objects: 170 lb. anvil, 200 lb. keg, 200 lb. fire hydrant had to be carried 50 feet and loaded over a 50 inch bar for fastest time.

The first time I practiced this event we did it for a carry distance of 30 feet. I blazed through it by picking all objects up two handed and using a hip-pop to launch each implement over the bar.

The second time I practiced the event, we did it from 75 feet away. Obviously much more cardio intensive and the keg required a lap and load over the bar and then I dropped the fire hydrant twice while carrying sideways in both hands! This was a much slower time and I was a little apprehensive about my method going into the competition. I did not want to lose time having to readjust the fire hydrant after dropping it.

I noticed that the other competitors were shouldering the keg and fire hydrant.

When it came to my attempt, all the times were very fast and close together at around 50 seconds, I believe. I knew I would be ok with running with the anvil and tossing it over and popping the keg over with hip drive like I had practiced, but I wasn’t sure what I would do when it came to the fire hydrant. After a fast and flawless pace through the first two implements, I got to the hydrant and tried to follow suit with everyone else and shoulder it, but getting it up to my shoulder wasted precious time. I didn’t have it all the way up and my pace carrying the hydrant was significantly slower than with the other implements. Fortunately I had it up high enough and the hydrant is top heavy, I didn’t have to do any readjusting and I just ran it through the bar and the hydrant toppled over top of it. For some reason I thought that I had completed it in 36 seconds and that the next best time was around 39 seconds, but I wrote down that I did it in 45 seconds, so we will say that 45 seconds was good enough for another event win. It felt like a close one with the time it took me to handle the hydrant and I think I would have been better off going with my initial two-handed method. I just didn’t want to risk losing my grip on the top of the hydrant, which is a square piece that’s really tough to grip.

TIL: Sometimes the best way to pick up and load an implement is not the same way everyone else is doing it. (Yes I know this in direct contrast to what I learned from Event 2. Get out and compete as much as you can and you’ll gain the experience to know the fastest way to move with whatever object gets in your way).



Event 5 - Bus Pull