Our coach, athletes and families braved Interstate 70 and made their way Westphalian-ward to Grand Junction in search of gold and other precious medals at the State Games.

Meeting at the fur-miliar surroundings of Collie-rado Mesa Uni-fur-sity, our su-paw-star athletes were ready for some com-pup-tition.

Arriving in Grand Junction on Friday, our mascot Rudy made an appearance at the opening ceremonies, marching in with our athletes. The Special Olympics Flame was lit and some may say the ceremonies went a bit too long, causing those in attendance to take a dog nap. (No, I wouldn’t think of naming Coach Tom here.) When the ceremonies ended, our athletes headed to their dorms to rest in pup-aration for the next morning’s competition.

When dawn broke Saturday, our athletes were ready to go. Facing Mastiff competition, they took this op-paw-tunity to put in their ulti-mutt beast per-fur-mances – proving they are the baddest dogs in town. Our athletes set a total of 9 personal beasts at the games: Jimmy set a personal record in the squat, Joe set a personal record in the bench press and another in the deadlift, Luis set a personal record in the deadlift and Zach set two personal records in the squat, a personal record in the bench press and two more in the deadlift.

Their ef-fur-ts were also rewarded with gold, silver and bronze medals. Overall, the Rude Dogs brought home six gold medals, seven silver medals, three bronze medals, two 4th place ribbons and two 5th place ribbons. Below the photos is a table showing where each athlete placed in their lifts and overall.

After having a doggone wonder-fur time, our dog-tired athletes, their families and one very tired coach gathered up their medals and ribbons and once again braved Interstate 70, this time heading Eskie-ward to home and a well earned rest.

As our 2023 season comes to a close, a grrrreat big Rude Dogs’ “Thank You!!!!” to:

• Our Lifters for all their hard work and dedication.

• Our doggone great coaches who ran our practices at Denver Athletic Club – Tom, Mike, Anjelica, Jonathan, Gabe and Lev

• Our wonderful and fur-endly neighborhood coaches who ran our practices at M+M – Amanda, Brian, Junior, Josh and Renee

• Denver Athletic Club and Muscle + Mindset for allowing us to invade their spaces with our craziness.

• The families, friends, volunteers and everyone else who supported the Rude Dogs and helped make the 2023 season great!

Thank you to The Dogfather and to Mary for contributing their photos of the State Games.

Travel Day and Opening Ceremonies

Competition

Awards Ceremony

Results by Lifter and Event

Lifter	Squat	Bench Press	Deadlift	Overall
Al	X	4th	4th	Silver
Bill	X	Bronze	Bronze	Gold
Jimmy	Silver	Gold	Gold	Gold
Joe	X	Silver	Gold	Gold
Luis	X	5th	5th	Bronze
Zach	Silver	Silver	Silver	Silver

For a specific lift, awards are based on where the lifter placed among all of the lifters in their weight class that also performed that lift.

For overall, awards are based on where the lifter placed against the other lifters in their weight class that performed the same set of lifts:

• If the lifter performed all three lifts, they are ranked against the other lifters in their weight class that also performed all three lifts.
• If the lifter only performed the bench press and deadlift, they are ranked against the other lifters in their weight class that also performed only those two lifts.

For a complete detail of each lift, see this page.