USAWA

By Joshua Guerin

On June 06 we had quite beautiful weather in Northern Colorado for the first ever Carnival in the Cul-de-Sac. The meet focused on classical/old timey lifts from sideshows, carnivals, and other similar displays from days past. In order to enhance the environment, fresh popped corn and festive old-timey mustaches were provided to competitors!

The primary lifts were:

• Steinborn Squat
• Dinnie Deadlift
• Goerner Stroll

In addition, we had two exhibition lifts that followed a similar theme:

• A modified dumbbell press using a Fulton dumbbell handle (similar to a “circus dumbbell”).
• A nail-bending face-off.

Nails included were:

• Der Fiegel – Ace Hardware 20D 4” Galvanized Box Nails (~29 lbs.).
• El Jefe – Grip Rite 60D 6” Timber Ties (~53 lbs.).
• The Centurion – Hillman Fas-n-Tite 6-in x 0.125-in 60d Hot-dipped galvanized Ring Shank Pole barn Nails (~63 lbs.).

The primary lifts went smoothly, with each lifter being humbled in their own way by the Goerner Stroll’s balancing act! While this lift proved technically difficult, the Steinborn lift and Dinnie both appeared to be comfortable for those involved, with the Dinnie allowing for some fairly significant deadlift numbers.

Lynch-adjusted overall scoring was:

1. Kim Wagner (465 lbs total, 1st place women’s).
2. Joshua Guerin (1083 lbs total, 1st place men’s).
3. Sanjiv Gupta (805 lbs total, 2nd place men’s).
4. Tony Lupo (813 lbs total, 3rd place men’s).

“Circus Dumbbell” Exhibition

The one-arm dumbbell and Fulton bars are no strangers to USAWA contests, so competitors were fairly confident going into the event. The event was selected based on the classical “circus dumbbell lift” from carnival and sideshow lore. While those events are often pictured with a globe-style dumbbell, a Fulton-style handle and large sleeve covers has become the norm. In order to ensure that more competitors had the equipment, a standard Fulton dumbbell handle was selected.

The circus dumbbell event was taken overall by Tony Lupo, with an impressive 90 lb left-arm lift. Overall these were followed by Joshua, Kim, and Sanjiv in terms of Lynch-adjusted weight. This puts Tony and Kim as male and female winners of the exhibition lift, congrats!

The lift seemed to go smoothly, and appeared to be enjoyed by the competitors involved. Given the inclusion of other Fulton dumbbell handles and existing dumbbell presses, perhaps the Fulton overhead press could be considered for inclusion as an official event.

Nail Bending Exhibition

Nail bending was new to most lifters, with Joshua giving a short training seminar at a previous High Country Vigour contest. Despite the lifters being relatively new to the event, the exhibition ended up being a fun surprise for everyone involved! Most importantly, everyone who participated bent not just one, but multiple nails in their category.

Due to the nature of the event, nails were judged first on category (with harder nails beating any number of correctly bent nails in previous categories) then on the total number of nails bent to break ties. All nails were judged based on a 2-inch maximum inner distance. Kim, Sanjiv, and Joshua all participated in Greeley.

Joshua took first in the event total, with 3 Centurion nails. This was followed by Sanjiv who bent 4 Der Fiegel’s, and Kim who had two Der Fiegel blends. This has Joshua and Kim as the top benders in the men’s and women’s categories, respectively. This puts Kim Wagner in the impressive position of having the leading lynch-adjusted score across the divisions, and had her ranked highest overall for the day, and sees her taking home awards in the women’s category the primary contest as well as both exhibition lifts.

COMPLETE RESULTS:

Carnival in the Cul-de-Sac
Greeley, Colorado
June 6, 2026
Meet Director: Joshua Guerin
Scorekeeper: Joshua Guerin

Officials: (1-official system) Sanjiv Gupta, Kim Van Wagner, Allison Lupo

The Lifts: Steinborn, Dinnie, Goerner Stroll

Bodyweight and Lifts in Pounds

WOMENS DIVISION

Lifter	Age	BW	Steinborn	Dinnie	Goerner	Total	Points
Kim Van Wagner	59	128.5	76	259	130	465	885.0

MENS DIVISION

Lifter	Age	BW	Steinborn	Dinnie	Goerner	Total	Points
Joshua Guerin	41	255	222	551	310	1083	867.0
Sanjiv Gupta	55	208.5	131	404	270	805	814.5
Tony Lupo	60	246	160	413	240	813	786.3

PRESS, FULTON DUMBBELL EXHIBITION

Lifter	Age	BW	Press, Fulton DB	Lynch
Kim	59	128.5	40 – R	57.2
Joshua	41	255	68 – R	54.4
Sanjiv	55	208.5	58 – R	58.7
Tony	60	246	90 – L	87.0

NAIL BENDING EXHIBITION

Lifter	Age	BW	Nail Type	Quantity
Kim	59	128.5	Der Fiegel (20d 4″)	2
Joshua	41	255	The Centurion (60d 6″)	3
Sanjiv	55	208.5	Der Fiegel (20d 4″)	4
Tony	60	246	NA	NA

No Record Session was included with the event