Last weekend saw the third Irish Kettlebell Sports Championships, once again run by the lads at the Kilkenny Kettlebell Club and the EGSA.
The event was fantastic, the lads really have got the running of a competition down. There were in the region of 30 men and 20 or so women competing in the Biathlon event, which is Jerks followed by Snatch. Many of the competitors had experience but there were still a good number of new faces, which is great to see.
From here I had two lads with me competing and one who was forced to sit out due to a recent injury. The two lads were Mark Kennedy and Graham Bird. This was Graham’s first competition, he trains in my regular lunchtime fitness sessions and competes in triathlon, but fancied a crack at this. Over the last 10 weeks he has had to learn the Jerk, improve his technique on both Jerk and Snatch as well as begin specific training for the Kettlebell Sport. And he did us proud. In true Wild Geese spirit he decided to skip the light weights and entered with 20kg kettlebells, which meant he was lifting heavier than the majority of lads there, he scored 46 jerks and 90 snatch, which a good score for anybody first time, especially with 20’s. His snatch set finished with an impressive ending, the bell slipped from his hand on the upswing and very nearly took out his judge!
Mark has a little more experience, he joined me from another gym recently as he felt he wasn’t getting the training he needed. The Kilkenny lads had provided him with a program, but he needed a coach to keep an eye on him and tweak his technique. On the day he put up 100 jerks and an impressive 214 snatch with 16kg bells. It really was a gutsy performance, well done mate.
As for myself, well I entered with the 28kg bells for no reason other than I used 24’s the last time out. My training has been far from consistent and for a while I considered pulling out, but I’m bloody glad I didn’t. With a little help from Steve Cotter in regards to technique and breathing, I managed 40 jerk and 100 snatch, earning a third place overall place.
Here’s my Jerk Set: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIXJr9Uribg]
And my Snatch set:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1-KQX6GRPo] Once again, I want to say thanks to Mark and Eddie (more on them here)for organising and running the event and huge congratulations to every single person that stepped onto a platform, regardless of the weight you lifted or the reps scored, you all put on an incredible performance, Kettlebell Sport is one of the most demanding things you can try your hand at, and seeing the spirit with which you all attacked your sets is inspiring.
Regards
Dave www.wg-fit.com