The first Cheltenham strongman competition took place at DW Fitness over the weekend, raising over £800 for charity in the process. With 22 competitors split over 4 weight categories, it attracted a lot of interest from the public.
The competition doubled up as a fundraiser for Help for Heroes with event organiser Natalie Turner expressing her determination to run similar events in the future.
“I’m looking at doing another event in 6 months but it’ll be a lot bigger. I’ve already spoken to Audi about sponsoring the next event and we’ll be combining DW fitness with Knights gym to offer more traditional strongman events to the competition. Audi, for example, will be supplying cars for a car pulling aspect and Knights can supply Atlas stones.
The next event would take place outside in the Brewery Quarter in Cheltenham, so it would attract a lot more passers-by and we’d double it up as a fundraiser again.”
Event sponsors Boston Tea Party and Pizza Hut supplied food and refreshments for everyone involved, with volunteers also running a cake stand on the day.
The four categories consisted of Women’s under 75kg and over 75kg as well as men’s under 90kg and over 90kg. Each competitor completed five events; standard deadlift, Farmers walk, Hercules hold, Bench press and a Pulling sled race, each one varying in weight depending on categories. The heaviest male entry Matthew Diamond weighed in at 138kg, winning the Men’s over 90kg with the highlight being a 280kg deadlift.
The most impressive performance of the day came from Zoe Lundy, a competitor in the Women’s under 75kg category. Weighing in at 63kg, she managed a deadlift almost triple her own bodyweight at 170 kilograms, as well as a very impressive 100kg bench press.
Natalie herself placed second in the Women’s over 75 category despite having originally entering into the ‘unders’ and giving away a huge weight disadvantage to her competitors. She missed out on top spot by only half a point but will now turn her attention to a new challenge, entering a physique competition in 16 weeks time.
Results
Men’s over 90kg | Men’s under 90kg |
1st Matthew Diamond (14.5 points) 2nd Joe Butterfield (8.5) 3rd David Rushmer (7) |
1st Christian Ayandokum (23.5) 2nd Adam Rauland (22.5) 3rd Aaron Jewell (15.5) |
Women’s over 75kg | Women’s under 75kg |
1st Natasha Walters (16.5) 2nd Natalie Turner (16) 3rd Sophie Odam (9.5) |
1st Zoe Lundy (22) |