This past weekend I was lucky enough to travel to Belfast to watch the Ultimate Masters World Strongest Man competition. This took place at the same venue as the Ultimate UK Strongest Man – organised by The Daddy Glen Ross, the World famous Irish strongman.
I work for Strength Shop UK and we were one of the main sponsors of the competition – supplying circus dumbbells which were used in the Junior Strongman event , and the massive 110kg log which was used by the Masters. Travelling over on Sunday , we had a ringside seat to watch Ken Nowicki from Scotland be crowned as Junior UK Strongest man after also competing in the Open event and finishing second.
The Masters event had a fantastic line up –
- Torfi Olafsson – Iceland
- Rene Minkwitz – Denmark
- Simon Flint – England
- Wout Zijlstra – Holland
- Odd Haugen – Norway
- Stuart Murray – Scotland
- Bernie – Ireland
- Glenn Ross – Ireland
The head referee was none other than former Worlds Strongest man Magnus Samulesson, winner in 1998.
I have never been to a Strongman competition before and being in the presence of so many huge men was a bit of an eye opener – Im a tall guy but I felt like a little kid beside these guys.
The day had 6 events with 3 head to head events. They were –
12 Tonne Truck Pull, 20 metres, old style harness only, 90 secs x 2 competitors
Flag Hoist, 5 flags, timed, 2 x competitors
Strength Shop Timber Log Lift for maximum weight , x1 competitors
Squat 320kg for reps, 90 secs timed, x 1 competitors
Human Wheelbarrow, 20 metres, 90 secs timed, 1 competitor
Stones of Strength, 5 stones, 100kg – 160kg, 90 sec timed, x 2 competitors
The Masters started with the truck pull – a head to head competition with two massive men pulling to massive trucks
Photo – Davie Easton
Having never seen the flag hoist before, I was intrigued to see how this event worked. It was similar to the Fingals Finger but in reverse, instead of pushing the pole up it had to be pulled up.
Photo – Denise Hunt
The next event saw one of the products from Strength Shop UK – the 110kg wooden log. When this log got delivered to our warehouse it took two of us to unload it from the back of the trailer, it is a monster log. Now in the hands of the masters it looked like a twig. Glen Ross won this event with a massive 150kg lift.
Photo – Denise Hunt
The squat event was one I was especially looking forward to as I had never seen a weight this big being squatted before – 320kg. The apparatus was like a smith machine with a cage on top that had a fish tank on it!
Photo – Denise Hunt
The Human Wheelbarrow event was a crowd favourite but I dont think the Irish dancers who had to sit on the barrow found it as much fun – it was cold, windy and they had to wait till every competitor attempted the event. The men had to lift an estimated weight of between 280-300kg.
Photo – Denise Hunt
The final event of the day was the Atlas Stones. The stones had to be placed on platforms that a few of the competitors found a bit too high, with stones ranging from 100kg for the highest platform up to 160kg for the lowest. The crowd got behind every one of the masters and the energy in the arena was electric.
Photo – Denise Hunt
The top 3 on the day were Odd Haugen in 3rd, Rene Minkwitz in 2nd and Glenn Ross in 1st.
Photo – Denise Hunt
The event was filmed by Challenge TV and will be televised in the UK at Christmas and will be shown in 52 countries worldwide.
Photographs provided by Denise Hunt who can be emailed HERE and her FaceBook group is HERE
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