Humboldt’s Christine Cardenas may not have much experience in strength competition, but the first-year competitor is seeing immediate results.
Cardenas will be national championship bound after finishing second at the provincial championships in Regina on Aug. 4.
“That was my goal in the beginning was to make it to nationals so excitement I guess. I was actually slightly disappointed, I really had my heart set on winning. It was good overall,” said Cardenas.
Cardenas admits that it was a bit of a surprise to see such immediate results, but says it means a lot to be able to represent Humboldt and Saskatchewan on the national stage.
Cardenas got off to what she called a slow start at the meet, finishing second in her weight class in the press medley, and second in her class in the tire flip.
A tie for first in the deadlift, and a first in the yoke/farmer’s walk turned the competition around for Cardenas, who said she felt really good about her chances after the fourth event.
“I didn’t have, I wouldn’t say my best performance, I still did well. Jamie (Otitoju) had an amazing day, didn’t make one mistake so she ended up being first in our weight class,” she said.
“But towards the end the yoke and farmer walk was the fourth event of the day and I managed to place first in that one over her so I started getting a little more excited again and thinking that I was probably going to place pretty good.”
Unfortunately for Cardenas, the final event was the atlas stones, an event she did not have a lot of practice time with in the lead up to provincials, and she ended up second.
Cardenas’ provincial preparations were altered slightly in the weeks leading up to the competition, she says, which came out of necessity after some of the events were changed.
Having events change is tough for Cardenas, she says because some of the implements she needs, like the atlas stones are not available in Humboldt.
“It is overall the same event somewhat like same motion but it’s different strategy and different technique to both of them. So not having the atlas stones here to practice was a little tough especially two weeks out when they change it.”
Cardenas said she did make a trip to Regina to practice with some of the implements, and said she came away from the practice quite confident.
Another of the events that got changed was the weights on the farmer’s walk, which was supposed to be 175 on each hand and was upped to 185.
On the day of the competition, due to a shortage of weight plates, the weight was upped by another ten pounds to 195 per hand.
“I didn’t know until after, which I’m glad because I might have psyched myself out, but the farmers walks were actually 195 pounds per hand so that was a personal best for me. I have never even picked up that much per hand before.”
It was not until after the event, when in conversation with another competitor that Cardenas found out how much she was actually carrying.
When she found out she was real surprised and kind of relieved.
“I was actually just pretty amazed afterwards… as I went to pick them I thought maybe I was really tired or what because it seemed a lot harder than I had practiced before… It wasn’t that I was tired it was just super heavy.”
With a spot booked at the national championship in Waterloo, Que. on Sept. 22, Cardenas will look to continue to improve on a solid rookie season.
With provincials a little over a month away Cardenas has two goals as she gets set for the competition; avoid cutting ten pounds immediately before the event and continue practicing.
“That I think will help because I won’t be as depleted and dehydrated beforehand and just to get to Regina and do some training before.”
The events have been announced for the meet, which Cardenas says will serve her well as she can spend the next month practicing the specific events.
With Cardenas having not yet seen many of the competitors from the other provinces, she admits she has no idea how the national championship will go, but says it is always her goal to win.
“Anything less than that I get disappointed in myself but just making it to nationals is a pretty big thing for my first year in strongwoman. And representing Saskatchewan and Humboldt on a national platform is going to be an amazing experience.”
While winning is the major goal, Cardenas says she hopes to reach the top five at least, and says her ultimate goal is to earn a spot at the prestigious Arnold Strongman Classic in the United States.
Of course, with nationals on the agenda Cardenas will be focused on the competition, but says she is also looking forward to the trip to Quebec to visit a province she has not yet been to.
“I’ve been talking to a few people and heard it’s pretty amazing there so I think we’re going to extend our stay for a few days afterwards and just hang out and see the sites. I’ll talk to some people beforehand and see what there is to go check out there.”
