Loooooooooooooooooon

Just left Alistar and Dirk's room where The Stewart and I watched 'em drinking REAL Canadian beer at an alarming pace after an hour of oldfart jocks tellin' war stories     "Blloody Hell, That's nothing ! I competed with the Kaz...and beat him! " or " Yeah....I've thrown with or know everyone in shot ,weight ,strongman ,lifting and discus since the Greeks"  or " I'm running out of room to put my Master's world championship trophies - wife says five is too many and sort of tacky"..................hmmmm........."Gee , I played football...hehe".......jerks.      ANYWAY ,  bright and sunny - I DID drive through two rainstorms  on the way up through the mountains , so my raingawd status remains quo. Met Gene at the dinner - you get a bucket of lasagna at Fratello's - I unashamably licked mine clean > Remet Dan Dillon . Said hello to all the strongman guys - they're all bigger than last year - animals all. You know why Neighbor won the World's ? he's a BIG guy. Said hello to Petur , Doc Roc ,all the New England Guys and everybody else ..Scott P...I'm going to bed -little jacuzeeee and a 7am wake up call . 8 in the lobby - the Stewart likes to get there early.......and he's driving. Saw Art in the lobby - throw w. us next year!  Tomorrow , we live as kings.

Mike baab lit up the crowd with his rugged good looks and weird yoga-master stretches. Full splits anyone? Once Art announced that Baab used to play for tha Pats they just went nuts. What a day. Gene is a sheaf throwing god, and Gudmundsson looks as awesome as ever. All the highlander guys agreed they want to be Don Stewart when they grow up. New 50+ masters' WR in the sheaf toss to add to his collection.
Petur Gudmundsson is the 2009 Neqw Hampshire masters'champion.

A huge thank you to ALL who made Loon possible, Dr. Bill and Holly Crawford, Mr. and Mrs. D'Amante, great annoucing by Art McDermott, Judges- Wayne, Leroy, Hapy, Field crew, Tony and however else I left out (sorry)....

Competition was amazing as I was honored being on the field with such legends and gentlemen!

Camaraderie is why I love this sport so much. We battled like Gladiators all day and yet we encouragement each other all day!!!

Hats off to all my competitors, looking forward to next year!!!

Gene

Yeah, what he said.  Great stuff all around.

The weather was perfect (well, maybe a little windy) and the competition dynamite.  Oh, but there were a lot of fouls, including a bunch out the back, for cryin' out loud.  The field of athletes was terrific, and they pushed each other in every event.  We missed Myles, though.  We called him from the field while Art McDermott was auctioning off the challenge caber to the spectators.  As I handed the phone to Baab, I realized the flaw in this plan:  when I got it back, I could just slap it to my hip and let the tacky hold it in place.

I'll post the results as soon as I can, but Petur had an OS that is likely to stand as the 45+ WR for quite a while.

Don Stewart had a couple of 50+ WRs, for sheaf and WOB, that will probably stand at least until the next time he throws.  It must be satisfying to him that his standing WOB equaled the best 50+ spinning throw.

Petur won the challenge caber this year and, following Ryan's lead from last year, split the prize with the other caber competitors.

The most enjoyable games of the year for me, and thats taking into account injury and watching the 40+ guys doing all the good events ;-)

It was the most organised comp i have ever been to, great crowd support and you couldn't ask for a better bunch of competitors and volunteers, hats off to all involved.

17/20 wrote: Man wish I was 40 again and had 10 more years to look forward to. One more maybe with Myles on the field.

Don - Stop selling yourself short.  You are in better shape and throwing form than most half your age.  No disrespect intended.

Al

Don I appreciate that you still throw for the love of the game or the love of
throwing. I wish I had thrown in High school or college or even in my late
twenties instead of my late thirties. I just hit the half century mark a month
ago. Although my throws aren't anywhere near your marks, I look forward to
the game like I was 9 going to Disneyland. I think your a icon in this sport
more for the fact that you continue to throw at 50 instead of how well you
threw 20 years ago. I think that is a true mark of a champion that has
managed to train smart and keep their body healthy consistently for 30 +
years. I'm sure you have had injuries over the years. I'm sure there will be a
time and a place for you to hang it up. I would believe your son feels lucky
to have you for a father because if he didn't he might not have been able to
meet the other famous guys.

Yes. You there yet young fella.

I coach youth soccer, among other coaching and one of the lessons I try to get across to the kids is to give it everything you have, don't play it safe and don't give 50%

To get this across to them I share the story of Don's HWFD last year at Loon. 2 Fouls, a 1st or 2nd place finish on the line and what does he do... In typical Holywood fashion he steps in the box and gives 100%... and fouls a 3rd time but he did it knowing he gave everything.

Wow... feels like a eulogy.... Don, you still out there? :)

Leroy

scribbling furiously........

Petur it was a pleasure once again. You look very fit as well as very explosive as usual. I had my first full rotational stone/shot workout yesterday. I went back to the basics as I did as a Jr in High School. The key for me and I know for you is getting off the left leg (or ball of the left foot I should say). The balance began to come back shortly into the workout. It felt good to take that rotational ride and uncork again. 

The sheaf always creates way too much drama up at Loon.  The soap opera of HG events. 

I say we move to a 20 lb bag and a 56 for dist. and height in 2011.  

 

Petur, your stone record should keep you warm this winter.  Think how much better that is than not taking 3 extras!

And what about right after the game, did Petur pull out the green bottle?  

Petur handed out teeny green bottles to a lot of people <holds his up to his monitor>, but proceeded to pull out a large one and shared it with Bill Crawford inside of about a minute.  I think you could call it a release for both of them.  Dana Florence and Hapy Mayer spotted one at the D'Amante's house later on (Petur and family had stayed there) and it was quickly dispatched.