2010 ARNOLD STRONGMAN CLASSIC PRESS RELEASE AND REPORT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 6, 2010
Derek Poundstone Wins the Eight Arnold Strongman Classic
COLUMBUS, OH - Derek Poundstone of Waterbury, Connecticut won the contest over an international field to capture the 8th Annual Arnold Strongman Classic title. Poundstone received a $45,000 check from Rhett Ricart of Ricart.com, an Audemars Piguet watch and the Louis Cyr trophy presented by Gerard Dente of MHP and congratulations from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Derek Poundstone set three world records, in the Circus Bell, Manhood Stones and Timber Carry. Poundstone completed the Timber Carry in 9.2 seconds carrying 1,003 pounds (450 kg) for 36 feet.
Finishing four points behind Poundstone in second was Zydrunas Savickas of Lithuania. He received $20,000 from Tim Bentley of GNC.
The order of the other finishers was:
3rd place: Travis Ortmayer of Cypress, Texas received $15,000 from Michael O'Hearn of Bodybuilding.com.
4th place: Mikhail "Misha" Koklyaev of Russia received $10,000 from Eric Schwartz of Animal.
5th place: Brian Shaw of Fort Lupton, Colorado received $8,000 from Oleksandr Geraga of Epicentr.
6th place: Dave Ostland of Minnesota received $6,000 from Jan Tana of Jan Tana.
7th place: Phil Pfister of Charleston, West Virginia received $5,000 from Rich Gaspari of Gaspari Nutrition.
8th place: Konstiantyn Ilin of the Ukraine received $3,000 from Bill Brooks from Chase.
9th place: Nick Best of Las Vegas, Nevada received $2,000 from Eric Broser of All American EFX.
10th place: Brian Siders of Virginia Beach, Virginia received $1,000 from Roger Bair of Raisin Rack.
This year's Arnold Strongman Classic was sponsored by MHP and Epicentr.
Events included:
MHP Timber Carry, MHP Manhood Stones, MHP "Apollon's Wheel", MHP Tire Deadlift, and the MHP
Circus Bell.
The final event, the Timber Carry, was held on Saturday evening at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, and shared the stage with the Arnold Classic men's bodybuilding finals in front of thousands of fans including Arnold Schwarzenegger and lifetime achievement award winner, Sylvester Stallone. Because the level of competition in this event seems to be going up every year, tournament director Terry Todd asked Steve Slater and his fantastic Slater's Hardware crew to add approximately one hundred pounds of additional wood to the apparatus to bring the weight to just over 1000 pounds (Actual weight 10003 pounds/455 kilos.) Competitors were to carry the mammoth frame as far up the same steeply-angled, 4O-foot ramp used in other Arnold Strongman Classics as they could.
After the first three competitors made little progress with the massive weight, Phil Pfister electrified the crowd by lugging the frame all the way to the top in 20.43 seconds. Having shown that it was possible, the men who came after Pfister seemed to catch fire. Brian Shaw was almost skipping up the sharp incline when he appeared to trip and dropped the apparatus within just a few inches of the finish line. Seeing that he now had a chance to move ahead of Shaw, with whom he was tied at 29 points, Misha Koklyaev stunned the crowd by taking the half-ton apparatus up the 4O-foot ramp in an amazing 11.85 seconds. The big American, Travis Ortmayer, couldn't quite match Koklyaev's speed, completing the ramp in 14.87 seconds.
However, there were still two strongmen left to carry the timbers. When Zydrunas Savickas, six time champion, stepped up to the frame, the entire auditorium filled with anticipation. How fast would he go? Because he was four points behind Poundstone going into this final event, most people understood that Zydrunas would win the overall title only if Derrick made a major mistake and was unable to carry it all the way to the top.
However, Zydrunas also needed to be faster than Koklyaev if he was going to be able to take home the second place check. So, like a large dreadnaught, he never hesitated once after he picked up the half-ton frame and raced almost effortlessly as he reached the top in 10.16 seconds, the fastest time seen all day. The audience jumped to its feat, roaring in gratitude for the magnificent performance.
Derek was not to be denied doing it in 9.2 seconds, and the final results for the Timber Carry were as follows:
Timber Carry Points
1st Derek Poundstone – 10 points
2nd Zydrunas Savickas – 9 points
3rd Mikhail “Misha” Koklyaev – 8 points
4th Travis Ortmayer – 7 points
5th Dave Ostlund – 6 points
6th Phil Pfister – 5 points
7th Brian Shaw – 4 points
8th Kostiantyn Ilin – 3 points
9th Nick Best – 2 points
10th Brian Siders 1 point
The final standings for the whole contest were as follows:
1st Derek Poundstone – 45 points
2nd Zydrunas Savickas – 41 points
3rd Travis Ortmayer – 37.5 points
4th Mikhail “Misha” Koklyaev – 37 points
5th Brian Shaw – 33 points
6th Dave Ostlund – 22.5 points
7th Phil Pfister – 20.5 points
8th Kostiantyn Ilin – 17 points
9th Nick Best – 13 points
10th Brian Siders – 8.5 point
This article courtesy the press office of the Arnold Sports Festival and
CLASSIC PRODUCTIONS, INC.
www.arnoldsportsfestival.com |
