As told by Todd and Julie Havelka
The final event of the day was the APT Semi-truck tire max deadlift. This event is very similar to the silver dollar deadlift, except that this apparutus put the bar at 19" above the ground rather than the 18" used for the silver dollar deadlift. The empty apparatus weight was 460 lbs, so the women used regular car tires instead. This put the women's bar at 3" higher than a regular deadlift, 12" actual height. The novice men all went first. Lifters were allowed to use straps, and the first 14 competitors received their very own pair of Commemorative Hell on the Hill straps, supplied by Alan of APT's Pro Wrist Straps. These are top of the line lifting straps, made to handle the kind of weight these guys were pulling! The biggest novice deadlift was pulled by Mike Barney, a former powerlifter. Mike ended the day with an 810 lb lift. Right behind him was Vince Eldridge, with 800 lbs. No one else really came close to these guys. But everyone had fun and really got into this event. Larry Hook pulled the biggest lift of the entire contest - 835 lbs. Mark Wechter had pulled 830 lbs on his 3rd attempt, and thinking that no one would pull more than that, jumped to 875 lbs and could not lock it out. So Larry wanted the win on the deadlift, and simply bumped Mark's 830 lbs by 5 lbs, and was successful with the pull. The lightweight women's deadlift was won by Pat, with an easy rth attempt of 340 lbs. This was a personal best for Pat on this lift, and she was very pleased with it. Machell was close behind with 335 lbs. Pat simply did was Larry had done, and strategically jumped 5 lbs on Machell's last lift for the win. Victoria had no idea what she would be able to pull, and was pleased with her lift of 240 lbs. In the heavyweight women's class, Laura finished her day with a strong 350 lbs. Julie had envisioned a certain number going into this contest, and went home with that exact number. 470 lbs was her final attempt and it was good. These lifters are really getting a workout when they finish a strongman contest with a max effort deadlift!
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