The best show in town bar none!

Saturday 8 May saw a total transformation of the Joey Dunlop Leisure Centre - the main hall was prepared for a battle to find the strongest man under 90kg! (14st 2lb) and turned into a gladiators arena! With specialised flooring, as well as unique and unusual equipment the stage was set for the first ever local battle for this major title. Complete Gyms presented this event which is a qualifier for the British Championships in July to a capacity audience the first to experience this new and exciting event. A gathering of the 12 strongest guys in this new weight division assured a fantastic competition and excitement for the spectators. The events will included • Farmers Walk, Yoke & Carry Medley - This event started the competition - the competitors had to lift and carry a cast iron disc weighing 90kg 15m, run back and pick up 2 x farmers walk 100 kg in each hand and carry them the length of the course, run back and pick a massive 260kg Yoke and carry the length of the course. Fastest time wins. • Steel Log Lift – Maximum weight overhead - Heaviest weight pressed wins. • Arm over Arm rope pull - Each competitor had to pull a bunch of heavy chains with added weights totally 350kg (over 55 stones) 15m from a seated position arm over arm for the fastest time or furthest distance. • Stones of Strength – Four massive atlas stones ranging from 90kg to 126kg - Fastest time to find the winner. • Deadlifting – Repititions in a frame lifting a massive cast iron axle - Most reps wins!. • Beer barrel loading – Four barrels loaded onto platform - Fastest time or most barrels loaded wins. The competitors who took part were - Denver McGuigian Damian St Ledger Scott Graham Oliver Cummings Wallace Clark Peter Baird Hugo Kelly George Paul Aaron Wilson Colin McCrellis Fionn Rodgers Matthew Wilson For many of the competitors it was a new experience, whilst almost all have competed in some strength sports before, the strongman arena was brand new to the majority. Every competitor busted a gut. No quitters or bad sports - fantastic performances all round! The battle between the top four was really exciting. Former powerlifter Colin McCrellis totally dominating the field in his first ever Strongman Competition earning a massive 70 points out of a possible total of 72 - a blistering and flawless performance earning Colin his right of passage to the British Championships in July. Second was Denver McGugian with 63 points - a more experienced competitor and this guy had to drop quite a bit of weight to make the weigh in. Great performance all round with a massive effort on the log press! Denver will also receive a well deserved invitation to the British Champs. Third went to Wallace Clark, another faultless performance from a more seasoned competitor. Wallace has competed as a powerlifter and 105kg strongman before. Rock solid and strong as a bull! Fourth was Oliver Cummings. Oliver is renowned strength and conditioning coach and put in a stunning performance. He made a mistake on the first event that cost him a good few possible points and did really well to pull back into fourth. Another future Champion no doubt! The event was a fantastic day for the family and the organiser Dave Warner commented: "The day was only made possible because of the participation of such fantastic athletes. "Next year the plan is to have three events, Northern Ireland's, Republic of Ireland's and then an All Ireland showdown! It will be spectacular. "Saturday's main sponsor was Kinetica Nutrition, providing giveaways, samples, etc and they also provided each athlete with T shirts, nutrition for the day's event as well as massive support and help. "Complete Gyms and McComb Steel provided some of the equipment used and prepared it all for the show. Sammy Graham (Seven times World Powerlifting Champion) provided equipment and also refereed with Martin Campbell (two times Ireland's Strongest man) and did an amazing job! "Thanks also must be expressed to the Joey Dunlop Centre for their help in preparing the hall and the hard work involved in setting out the event. "A special thank-you to Gary McKelvey, Francis Kirby, Stephen Graham, Ruth from Big Bird Design, Ryan Boreland, Thomas Cumming and everyone else who made the event go so well! "Anyone interested in supporting or competing in this event next year should contact us by email amd check out the website." www.nistrongman.co.uk info@nistrongman.co.uk