We held a very special Friday night Strict Curl competition, the SCN Friday the 13th Summer Bash, in Cheshire CT to an amazing group of athletes, both newcomers and veterans of the sport, which is what made it so special!
Thanks to our premier sponsor, Ghost Strong, who makes some of the best competition grade powerlifting equipment in the world, they also produce accessories for lifting such as their famous Crusher Wraps which are incredible to use for Strict Curl training, and can be purchase via https://www.ghoststrong.com
Thanks to our sponsor Micro Gainz, who provided their famous Micro Gainz Fractional Plate Sets to both overall winners, one prize for the best male and one for best female lifter, which was determined by overall weight lifted compared to their bodyweight! You can check out all of their great products here as well: https://www.microgainz.com
The energy was electric, athletes had an amazing time, from the time they entered the powerlifting facility in Cheshire CT, home of the most winning Strict Curl coach in the nation, Patrick Russo, along with his assistant coach, Nikki Dorval. Athletes were treated to a free chicken and potatoes dinner, given a FREE 1 year membership to the Strict Curl Nation (a $50 value), and low entry fee, insane trophies, all as a thank you to the athletes and providing as much value as possible. The event was also Live streamed on Instagram and was a huge success, with over 100 concurrent viewers on the Live Stream at any given time, with some of the comments being "this is the most hype competition I've ever seen" and "I cannot wait to curl in this federation, it's electric." Over 100 Instagram stories were captured for the athletes as well.
The veteran Strict Curl athletes continued to impress such as Gary "Easy Peasy" Teeter, Steve "Massive Power" Orseno, who won 1 of the 2 best lifter awards (shoutout to Micro Gainz).
To get things started, the women set the bar extremely high, with the likes of Kierstyn "KB" Bourdeau (Female all time drug-free heaviest strict curl), Leslie "LD" DeAngelo who won 1 of 2 best lifter awards, Amy Travers, Angela Krom, Jen Tramontano, Georgianna Orseno (who was just 1 lb shy of best female lifter) Jeannie Iavarona, Laura Yellen, Monika Steczkowski, Chloe Rabago (who's brother is also an amazing Strict Curl athlete), and Amber Geraldi. The veterans in the sport helped out newcomers, making them feel extremely comfortable competing, lending tips to one another, showing so much camaraderie amongst the athletes, new friendships were formed and old ones were reunited, the music was pumping, athletes were cheering on one another as if at a rock concert, giving each other an adrenaline boost while up on the platform, and the place did not stop the electric feel until the very last trophy was given out!
The men were up next and had to step it up as the women had set the bar so high and got the entire place rocking with excitement at all of the amazing PR's and new league records! There were some great feel good, comeback stories from the likes of George Roy (Grand Master World Champion) and Marcel Duprey (part of the Strict Curl team world champions) who made their comebacks at this meet and did not disappoint! Newcomers Joseph "Big Joe" Sabol opened with 190 lbs and crushed it, garnering the attention of everyone very quickly, and when he almost hit 200 lbs, the roof nearly came off with so much cheering for the big guy, and this is just the beginning for him! Joe Cotton, Ken "the OG KB" Berry, Jeff "The Wolverine" Wilson, Jason "Floody" Flood, Anthony Esteves, Jim "Jimmy Gunz" Gawronski, Luca Leonetti, and Drew Harduby all had excellent days with new PR's set by many of them, ratcheting up the level of excitement throughout the meet, clearly evident on the Instagram LIVE as well, for all to see! In addition, college athletes Ryan Figueiredo and Aidan Howell also showed very well, with Ryan having a great debut and Aidan showing promise for the future as well! It goes to show that no matter the age, the sport is very accessible with low risk of injury as well!
Athletes came from all over to compete in the event and we greatly appreciate them coming from so far away to do so, from Virginia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, Connecticut, among other states!
We are extremely excited to announce the next meet in our Strict Curl Nation lineup, which will be on October 9th, 2021 at 10AM in Silver Spring Maryland at the home base of Bruce Knox, Maryland's #1 All Time Strict Curl athlete, at the Knox Power Company! In just the first 24 hours of the event being announced, it was 60% SOLD OUT! If you'd like to get the opportunity to compete in a very exciting venue, atmosphere, and be treated like a true athlete, then sign up below via the simple form by clicking on "Register Now"
Story by Joe Freni