Last weekend, The
Warehouse Gym, Leicester, kindly hosted one of the most exciting competitions
of the year in their newly opened dedicated strongman facility known as The
Monster's Playground. With a whole host of strongman goodies backed by three
former 105 champion officials, the stage was set for a fantastic show for the
Midlands audience.
An early crowd
eager for the competition to get underway
The competition kicked off with a farmers walk; a 120kg implement in each hand to be carried 30m up and down the length of the gym. I'm not entirely sure who was more energetic, the athletes or the super crowd cheering the competitors on, but it was definitely a good effort by both parties! The high standards were set right from the get-go, with Luke Skippon and John Hamson flying out of the blocks with near 20s times. The scores were tight, that was until Valdas Kazakevicius, the lightest competitor of the day, stepped up with 15 second run that blew the nearest competitor's 18s time out of the water. An absolute Phenomenal run put the young 96kg strongman in first place, with John Rudgard and Daz Clarke taking the runner up spots.
Luke Skippon and John
Hamson beginning the 120kg farmers walk
The next event was one to separate the men from the boys: A 111kg big wheel axle, floor to overhead for as many repetitions as possible in the given time limit. With even one rep (like mine!) getting a huge roar of applause and encouragement, you can imagine how they felt about the likes of seven! Valdas, John Hamson and Daz Clarke smashed out their joint winning reps to the crowd's delight. Daz even managed an 8th, but with so much effort and enthusiasm used, the rep was disallowed when he dropped the weight from overhead. Unfortunately, due to the rules imposed by the head referees, he couldn't claim that vital win due to this unlucky mistake. The tension and drama were building at the venue, and the crowd could feel it too!
Jason Holgate manhandling
the 111kg axle press
Next up was hands down one
of the hardest, most uncomfortable and downright painful events in all of
strongman; The Conan's Circle. The lads did well, pushing out up to 4
revolutions with confidence. Evidently lifting a 220kg implement is hard in
itself, but resting it on your lungs and walking around in circles takes it to
a whole new level. ...Well at least someone should have told Luke Skippon that,
as he practically ran through this event, pushing out a near five full
repetitions in the time some took to do a single! This was definitely a highlight
of the entire day, and the volume of the crowd certainly agreed. Luke took the
win with style, with Valdas, even while taking 'only ' second, was definitely
pulling away from the pack. The pocket rocket was certainly making a name for
himself at the midlands qualifier.
A focused
and determined Rich Minney on the 220kg Conan's Circle.
After a quick break and
BBQ generously provided by the venue, the fourth event was underway. A
Volkswagon Polo complete with 90kg of concrete in the boot was to be deadlifted
for repetitions Yes, that's right, a car isn't heavy enough for
these lads so they added bricks. Some valiant performances were displayed,
personal bests were shattered and the crowd loved the anguish on the faces of
the athletes. The resident powerlifters were clearly loving this event, but the
experienced strongmen were hot on their tails. A whopping 19 reps from John
Hamson,17 from both Daz and Valdas and a huge 16 from Dane Taylor took the top
4 spots with authority.
Next up was
the appropriately named 'heinous carry and load' consisting of a
70kg sandbag, 80kg barrel, 110kg chain link and 135kg iron cylinder, all to be loaded over the Conan's bar.
Everyone made quick work of the well-rehearsed sandbag and the barrel, but the
real trouble came with the two not-so-normal implements. Eventually, it all
came down to two things; who could load the first three quickest and who, if
anyone, could eventually topple the solid iron cylinder. John Rudgard gave us
our first taste of the latter, belting out all four objects in just over 20
seconds; Faster than most with just the three loads! The athletes to follow
utilised some of the technique seen by John's run, albeit a little
slower, granting some massive points to the current leader. However, it was of
course Valdas who pipped him just out of the top spot by a single second,
giving him yet another solid win.
Daz Clarke, one of the few
men on the day to actually load the mammoth iron cylinder
The final event was a
strongman classic although with a twist reminiscent of last year’s
World's Strongest Man competion: Some really high platforms! The difficulty is
raised substantially when the lighter stone, needing near overhead pressing,
requires the same amount of effort as the final stone to a lower platform. This
took many of the athletes by surprise leaving a handful to only load
the first stone before wearing themselves out. With the final 6 to go however,
things certainly got interesting. John Rudgard loaded the massive final 140kg
stone in 73s, only to have Richard Minney, who had placed consistently in the
top 5 for every event, blow it away in nearly half the time! The last 4
competitors including Daz, John, Luke and Valdas couldn't top Rich's fantastic
effort, granting him the win in the final event! Daz and Valdas followed by
mere seconds, but the competition was over.
Valdas Kazakevicius wins
The Midlands Strongest Man u105!
A victorious smile
And with a fantastic
showing from Daz and Rich in the final event, they both also qualify for
Englands Strongest Man u105!
The final three with
competition organiser Jay Pateman, receiving their unique tankard trophies!
A dominating performance
from Valdas gives him a well-deserved win with Daz and Rich battling out for
2nd and 3rd respectively. Only 1-2 points separated the top 5, with Luke
Skippon and John Hamson barely missing the qualifying cut. They should be proud
however, along with the rest of the athletes who put on a fantastic show for
the incredibly vibrant and enthusiastic audience down at The Warehouse Gym. The
day was a huge success and the atmosphere was terrific from both the
competitors and spectators.
A special thanks goes out
to Jason Talbot and Jay Pateman for organising such a wonderfully smoothly ran
competition. Also a big thanks to Ben Kelsey and Adam Bishop for refereeing
the gruelling events and a final mention to the scorers, loaders and
helpers on the day for which none of this could have been possible without the
time and effort provided.
Many thanks to Martin
Boyce of Photies.co.uk for supplying the outstanding photographs you see above.
Article by Paul Fong
