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I have just returned from this year's UKs Strongest Man contest held in Belfast over the bank holiday weekend by Glenn Ross. Shawn Kenny was called up late on Thursday and we both headed out to Belfast Thursday night. Shawn finished an incredible 6th. This contest was very heavy and varied. It consisted of 13 events over three days and 16 finalists who were split into two groups. Day one was Saturday 23rd August 2008 and saw four events take place: 1) 140kg viking press for timed reps 2) Sweetie snatcher (head to head tug of war using a bar) 3) Brick deadlift (a container of bricks is deadlifted from a platform above for max weight) 4) Wheel barrow skip medley (tyre, chain and barrel to be loaded into a skip over 10 meters and the skip to be carried 10 metres) After day one two athletes from each group were eliminated. Day two was Sunday 24th August 2008 and saw the following four events, with points from day one being carried over. 1) Double truck pull 2) Human link (athletes are suspended over water in a cage and have to hold an anchor weighing 300kg for time) 3) Thor's axe (an axe weighing 50lb held out to the front with straight arms for time) 4) Milk Churn curl (two milk churns are attached to a bar which has to be curled strictly to the chin for timed reps. Total weight 56kg) After day two there were two more athletes eliminated from each group. The final four from each group then entered the final on Monday 25th August 2008. The final five events were as follows: 1) Pressing medley. (five items to be pressed overhead for one rep which included a 100kg barrel, 110kg stone, 60kg circus dumbbell (each hand), 130kg log and finally a 147.5 kg axle) 2) Back lift (athletes to crouch under a table platform and lift upwards for max weight) 3) Stones (three stones weighing 130kg, 145kg and 160kg to be lifted over a bar as many times as possible in set time. This was done on a points system with the 130kg stone scoring one point the 145kg stone scoring three points and the 160kg stone scoring five points. If all three are lifted the athlete scores three bonus points. Competitors can chose to lift the same stone twice if desired in any order) 4) Car deadlift (weight 300kg to be lifted for reps) 5) Flip and drag (a 450kg tyre to be flipped for 3 reps and a tractor runner to be dragged) Final placing were as follows: 1st Glenn Ross 2nd Dave Warner 3rd Jimmy Markhu 4th Rob Frampton 5th James Kennelly 6th Shawn Kenny 7th Dave McAneney 8th Adam Townsend This contest will be broadcast on Bravo in October this year. |
