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Wilderness Sports > Strongman / Strongwoman

2nd Annual Alki Beach

Strongman / Strongwoman 2001 Competition

Tips for Newcomers

On August 18, 2001, 18 men (9 each heavyweight and lightweight) and 4 women gathered at Alki Beach in West Seattle for the 2nd annual Washington State Strongman competition, sponsored by Bull Stewart and Gateway Athletic Club. Women competed in 4 events, men in 6, resulting in a day of friendly competition that extended from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Below are pictures from the day's events as well as training tips from two first-time competitors for anyone hoping to participate in a future strongman competition. For other pictures from the meet, see also the following links:

Mike Trupiano's Powerlifting in the Pacific NW

Women's Competition

Courtenay Schurman's Experience as shared by Court

Event I: 102.5# (each hand) Farmer's Walk - 200 feet, 90 seconds timed

The key here: get a firm grip on the handles (I kept my thumbs by my fingers, open palm, so the bar starts higher in my hand and has a little room to move as my grip starts to fail). With so much weight, any tiny movement is magnified--stay really close to the marker if you have to make a turn on the course. We were allowed to set the implements down only once -- DO NOT attempt to lunge across the finish line as I did or, like me, you may fall down! Fortunately, this effort was good enough for second place.

Court leaving the starting blocks at a fast walk.

Event 2: 6,700# SUV Truck Pull - 75 feet, 60 seconds

I'd been training by pushing our Chevy S10 King Cab truck, but pulling is a different story. Keys here: footwear and appropriate harness size. I had to borrow a harness from one of the other women because the one Kelly and Tamara wore was too big for me. Had I known we could wear climbing shoes, that's what I would have brought, as my tennis shoes gained no purchase on the dusty and sandy pavement. Also important: level ground. The women unfortunately had to get the truck moving over a very subtle hill -- Kelly Hernandez was the only woman able to successfully budge the truck and complete the event. Ten seconds before my time was up, I felt and heard an audible "pop" in my right fourth metatarsal. I went immediately over to elevate and ice my foot, which had already begun to swell.

Left: Court getting into a harness; Right: Court straining to budge truck.

Event 3: 350# Tire Flip - 100 feet, 60 seconds

By far my strongest event. My record in training for 90 seconds had been 12 flips. Unfortunately, with the newly broken bone in my right foot, it was impossible to place any substantial weight on it, and I had to pass my turn. Tips here: 1) cleats help you get much better purchase in the sod; 2) get your whole hand under the tire or you could strain finger tendons; 3) use your knees as needed to get the tire up, then push as hard as possible to take advantage of any ground gained from the tire "hopping" forward with the added momentum; 4) try to keep the tire moving straight forward (diagonals will mean you lose distance forward); 5) don't injure yourself before the event!

Kelly Hernandez straining under the 350# tire to flip it end over end. Good enough for second place.

Event 4: 44# Keg Clean and Overhead Press, 60 seconds

Despite the fact that I could bear only minimal weight with my right foot, by placing 95% of my weight on the left foot and using the right heel strictly for balance, I was able to participate in this final event, one I felt confident I could do one legged or two. Since I'd passed on the tire flip, I was first to compete in the keg clean and press and successfully completed 25 repetitions, a record that stood until the final competitor bested it by one, placing me 2nd in the event and 3rd place overall. Five weeks later, foot 85% recovered, I headed for Africa to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya! Keys here: keep going! Fully extend arms overhead to lock-out in order for the reps to count; angle the barrel to prevent excessive water-sloshing (which can throw you off balance.)

Men's Competition:

Doug Schurman's Experience

Event l: Log Press

192# was the starting weight LW, winning weights LW 250; HW 322

Here, Doug presses 192 and celebrates immediately afterwards with pumped fist.

Event II: Farmer's walk LW 225#, HW 272#.

Doug stumbled right off the bat and had one remaining chance to walk as far as possible -- all the way down the field until he started into the turn and had to set the implements down again.

Event III: Tire Flip LW 600#, HW 750#

Doug ended up making 82 feet (11 or 12 flips) before time expired. Good enough for 7th place. 3 guys flipped the entire 100 feet with the fastest time of 1:19.

The HW tire was trouble for everyone. The best was about 60 feet.

Event IV: truck pull

Lightweight men had to pull the same SUV the women pulled, weight of 6,700lbs, but from a seated position in a tire, hand-over-hand.

Doug did quite well here and pulled it in 38 seconds, placing him fourth.

The heavyweight men pulled a semi weighing 17,000lbs using a harness attached to the truck and rope for hands.

Event V: Keg toss for height, LW 33#, HW 44#.

Opening height was 12 feet. It was moved up in 1 foot increments with a max of 4 heights to attempt. 1 guy missed the opener in the LW. Doug made 12 foot easily. The men were using the pony keg so they could swing them between their legs easily. Doug had been practicing with a full size keg at home which he admits was much tougher. He made 13 and 14 feet also. This left 5 of 9 LW's to go for the 15 feet. One guy missed. Doug had a couple good tries (one had the height but not the right angle). 3 guys made it so Doug tied for 4th. The HW's made either 16 or 17 feet. Some of those guys took passes at different heights.

Event VI: Loading Medley

Different objects were place at varying distances from the back of a pickup truck. The goal was to pick up each object and carry it to the truck and run back for the next object. Lightweights had four items, 120lb chain about 40 feet away, 135lb rock 30 feet away, 165lb keg about 20 feet away and 175 pound rock 10 feet away. The first guy did in about 51 seconds. Then the next guy did it in 29 seconds. Doug got up and he was flying. He picked the keg up and was moving well when he lost it right in front of the truck. It rolled under the tailgate. He had to pull it back and toss it in. He finished with 28 seconds and 5th place. He was only 3-4 seconds off the lead. He had a good shot at first without the drop. Pictured left: 275# rock the Heavyweights had to lift along with the 4 items in LW.