Andy Reather competed with Hans Florine from The Refuge in Las Vegas. According to Hans, it was "totally random that Andy was around and competed." Andy finished second (and fourth on the all-time scoring list.) Third place was no surprise to anyone following these things: Micah Elconin crushed it on 2-finger stacks (1:2-5-6-9, 1:3-6-8, 1:3-5-7-9) and was consistent enough on the 4-finger stacks to beat out last year's winner Conner Everton who finished fourth.
Team Santa Barbara (Steve, Micah, Andree, Phil Requist, and Gregory Su) won the uneventful team competition. What happened to the Utah and Canadian crushers we were expecting to compete this year?
One of the most interesting stories from the competition is that of age: The median age of the top 10 males is 32.5 (average is 32.3) and in the top 5 it's 35 (average is 33.8) with 3 of the top 5 being over 35. Of course, one should never ask a woman her age, but the top 2 females are rumored to be over 30 as well. This year's winner, Steve, is 36. So no more excuses — let's get training!
For complete scoring down to every move each competitor did, login to portal.lordoftherungs.com (create an account if you haven't done so already.) This also now has the "All-Time Scoring" which incorporates scores logged from all events. Soon, everyone will be able to self-log scores year-round; these scores will apply to your all-time score and should help to motivate everyone until next year's competition.
Many thanks to Andy Patterson of Santa Barbara Iron & Forge for creating amazing trophies. (I'll get pics up soon.)
Top Males:
- Steve Lapen
- Andy Raether
- Micah Elconin
- Connor Everton
- Phil Requist
- Gregory Su
- Elijah Ball
- Andy Patterson
- Will Barnes
- Arthur Guittet
Top Females:
- Andree Areno
- Deanna Lapen
- Selena Wong
- Olivia Gualda
 Deanna Lapen in a close second (photo Chris Lorimer) |
 Micah Elconin mastering 2 fingers (photo Chris Lorimer) |