Goerner Deadlift Meet

by Al Myers

Group Picture at the 2009 Goerner Deadlift Dozen Plus One Left to Right: Chad Ullom, Al Myers, and Rudy Bletscher

Only three lifters attended the Goerner Deadlift this year – and all were representatives of the Dino Gym.  However, despite this small turnout, the competition was fierce for the overall.  I was able to pull the win out over my good friend and training partner Chad Ullom.  This was my 4th Goerner win – which is the most by any individual in the history of the Goerner Deadlift.  It has taken me several years but finally my finger deadlifts don’t let me down at the end of this meet! They still have a long ways to go though, but they are not near the embarrassment they used to be for me (like the time Mary Mac beat me in poundage on ALL the finger deadlifts at this meet!).  Chad had an outstanding performance – by far his best ever in this meet. I looked back at the results of past Goerner meets and Chad posted the second highest adjusted points of All-Time, with my adjusted points this year being the highest. So any other year Chad would have won – and this says a lot since many great lifters have lifted in the Goerner Meet throughout the years. Outstanding deadlifters such as Rex Monahan, Kevin Fulton, and Mike McBride have all lifted at the Goerner in the past. Chad’s One Arm Deadlift has been really improving lately (he got 410# with his right at a record day a few weeks ago) and he was hoping to go over 400# again, but had balance issues on his last pull, causing him to miss it.  He then tried for a record 445# One Arm Deadlift and had it up high enough – but just couldn’t hold it long enough to satisfy Bill’s two second count.  Give Chad some more time with this lift and I think you will see him pull over 500#!!  Rudy again turned in a solid meet.  At 74 years old, Rudy is very muscular for his age – and he doesn’t even spend much time training with weights. Most of his training involves doing bodyweight exercises – like pushups, deep knee bends, and situps.  He can still quickly drop to the floor and pound out the pushups!   He does the work around his farm the “hard way” and in return, reaps strength the old-fashioned way. I’m talking about such things as carrying buckets by hand, cutting down trees with a hand saw, and hand loading bags of feed – tasks that most farmers use mechanical assistance for. But it has paid off for Rudy – and I only hope when I’m his age I can be in the shape he is now.  I enjoyed getting to meet James Hockemeyer, of Fulton Missouri,  who came to watch this meet and to see Bill. James is an old Olympic Lifter/Powerlifter and has been a supporter of the Strength Journal for years, but has never tested himself in the All-Rounds. I was glad to see Tom Powell there.  Tom always shows up to load at Clark’s meets.  This time, he brought his step-son along to help also.  Loaders often don’t get thanked enough – so I brought along a Dino Gym T-Shirt for Tom as a token payment for all his efforts!  Thanks again Tom!!

I could go on and on about this meet, but I’m going to cut it short.  This has always been one of my favorite meets for a lot of reasons – and many thanks goes to Bill Clark for hosting it.  When the meet was over, I told Bill that I will always make sure the Goerner Deadlift continues, and when the day comes that he is ready to pass it along to someone else, I will be ready take it.

FULL MEET RESULTS:

Goerner Deadlift Dozen plus One
Clark’s Gym
Columbia, Missouri
December 5th, 2009

Meet Director:  Bill Clark

Official: (One Official System) Bill Clark

Loader:  Tom Powell

Lifts:  Deadlift – Heels Together, Jefferson Lift, Hack Lift, Deadlift – 2 Bars, Deadlift – No Thumb, One Arm (right and left), Deadlift – One Arm (Right and Left), Deadlift – Reeves, Deadlift – Index Fingers, Deadlift – Middle Fingers, Deadlift – Ring Fingers, Deadlift – Little Fingers

Results:

Lifter Age BWT DL-HT Jeff Hack 2 Bar
DL -NT, Right
DL – NT, Left
DL – Right
Al Myers
43 254 550 550 500 590 250 250 365
Chad Ullom
37 230 495 500 475 500 225 185 365
Rudy Bletscher
74 219 275 225 225 270 155 155 175


Lifter DL -Left
Reeves DL-MF
DL-IF
DL-RF DL-LF Total Pts ADJ Pts
Al Myers
365 335 305 225 225 155 4665 3672.29 3819.18
Chad Ullom
385 305 300 225 225 100 4285 3550.12 3550.12
Rudy Bletscher
175 185 135 135 115 65 2290 1947.19 2628.71


All lifts and bodyweights were recorded in pounds.
No records were set on extra attempts.
BWT – Bodyweight     Pts – Lynch Points    ADJ Pts – Age adjusted Lynch Points