Sport / Nisbet on top in Galway to be named World’s Strongest
A SHETLAND strongman is celebrating after being named World’s Strongest Natural Man in the under-72kg weight division at a competition in Galway last weekend.
Cameron Nisbet came out on top after a close competition, with over 250 athletes from 26 countries gathering at the Kingfisher Club in Ireland.
The U72kg category featured 11 athletes from eight countries ranging from Australia to the USA, Canada, Ireland and Sweden.
Nisbet qualified for the competition after winning both the U72kg Scottish natural strongman competition and the U72kg UK and Ireland’s natural strongman competition.
This time there were a total of seven different events, with four on the Saturday and another three on the Sunday.
The first was a 220kg deadlift using a two-inch thick axle bar for max repetitions within 60 seconds.
Nisbet started strong and won the first event with seven reps in the time limit.
In the second a 260kg yoke had to be carried on the back down a 15-metre course and back before trying to lift a 170kg weight up three power stair steps.
Nisbet managed to complete the yoke course and load the implement up one step in a time of 38.73s, taking a fourth place finish on this event.
He headed into the third event in joint first, with the next test a “Hercules hold” – with the competition kit actually being made by Shetland fabricator Far North Strength.
In this event the competitors grip was tested by holding up the weight of two pillars for as long as possible.
This led to another fourth place finish for Nisbet, who managed to hold the weight for 43.63s.
The final event of day one was the Cerberus Sandball dash, carry, and load.
This event had athletes sprint 15m to a 100kg ball shaped sandbag, carry it back 15m to a bar set to chest height, and finally load it back and forth over the bar as many times as possible within the remainder of the 60 second time limit.
Now sitting in third place overall, and only two points behind first, a big effort on this event of nine repetitions gave Nisbet another first place finish to end day one with a single point lead over the competition.
On Sunday, the fifth event overall was an axle bar clean and press for maximum weight. The two-inch thick bar had to be taken from the floor and lifted overhead by any means necessary.
Competitors started with a weight of 90kg and then proceeded to the next rounds in 10kg increments.
Nisbet topped out at 100kg with a narrow miss at 110kg, which was still a good enough performance to tie for fifth place in the event.
At this point in the competition there were only two points between the top four competitors going into the penultimate even – a sandbag throw series over a 4.1 metre bar.
This was another dominant win for Nisbet, who was the only competitor to clear the 20kg bag over the bar and did so in a time of 20.07s.
Tensions were high with Nisbet now in the lead by only two points, and third place only a further two points behind second.
The final event of the weekend was a true test of strength, endurance and determination.
It consisted of carrying a 200kg yoke 10m in a zercher position (with the bar in the crooks of the arms), sprinting back 10m for a 100kg sandbag, carrying the sandbag 10m and loading it over the yoke bar, then repeating a second time each.
Nisbet had his best showing of the day on this event, finishing the whole medley in 33.62s – almost five seconds quicker than anyone else.
There was an strong sense of support and camaraderie in the arena between all the competitors, supporters, and athletes especially from Nisbet’s girlfriend Shelby and the other Scottish competitors.
Nisbet thanked Shelby for being supportive and understanding on every stage of the journey, Shetland Weight Training Club for the use of the facilities and sponsorship, and Stuart Nisbet Plastering for the additional sponsorship and support.
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