I've been an athlete most of my life and when not doing something competitively I tried to hit the gym just to keep in shape. I began rock climbing and 'bouldering'' a few years ago but had a nasty spill last year which lead to major knee surgery (ACL, PCL, broken bones and meniscus tearing). The thing that sucked the most about the injury is that I had just STARTED to get into Heavy Athletics. I'm in my early 40's and thought it the perfect thing to keep me active. First time I touched a caber, I flipped it--and I've been hooked since.

But rehab sucks and I haven't been able to get back to much of anything in a year. I'm finally back to a place to start picking up the stones again and 2 weeks ago tossed an open 33 ft. (Always had good shot put form from high school track) Not bad for an old dude whose also under 6 feet tall and less than 200lbs ;-) --yep I'm short and stout.

So my goals are to be able to build my own gear, practice every weekend I can and hopefully next year compete in at least two local games.

This thread has helped me immensly--ya'll keep me focused. I'll post any improvement I make in practice or in tinkering with my own gear.

Thanks all! If I see any of ya at the games next year and I'm able to compete--the first one's on me!