Isles athletes flex their muscles at UK championships
FIVE Shetland strength athletes travelled down to Wolverhampton this weekend to compete at the Natural Strongman UK and Irish championships.
A top five finish in the competition would secure a placing at the Natural Strongman European competition on 6 June in Doncaster, with a top two finish also getting a spot at the world’s competition on 21-23 August in Paisley.
Four of the five Shetlanders earned a top five placing to secure a return to the European competition in June, while Cameron Nisbet finished second to win a place at the worlds.
The competition had six different events to test different aspects of strength, each with a 60 second time limit.
These included a log clean and press away, in which a metal cylinder with handles must be rolled up the body and then pressed overhead before being returned to the shoulders or ground, for as many repetitions as possible.
The other events were a push, carry and drag medley with a weighted sled, a circus dumbbell clean and press and a keg loading medley.
An Apollon’s deadlift with a barbell with Apollon’s wheels and a farmers walk down a 15 metre course completed the competition.
Tegan Patterson finished fifth overall in the women’s under-73kg event, with two fourth placings in the push, carry and drag and circus dumbbells pushing her up the table.
Peter Fazekas also earned a fifth place finish, in the men’s under-72kg category, winning the farmer’s walk section by carrying 100kg up the 15 metre course and back in 26.45s.
Help keep Shetland’s news open to everyone
Good local journalism takes time, care and people on the ground. Membership helps us keep reporting the stories that matter to Shetland — and keep them free for everyone to read. Members get a weekly newsletter created especially for them, local ads only, and can bookmark stories and join the conversation in the comments.
Already a member? Sign in.
For Nisbet, he found himself on the podium in the men’s under-72 category after a second place finish overall.
He was the winner of the Apollon’s deadlift event, managing 17 reps of the 210kg weight, and came joint first in the circus dumbbell with five reps.
Lee Brain was also on the podium in the men’s masters under-90kg event, finishing third overall.
He was never outside the top three on any of the six events, finishing second in the farmer’s walk, managing 110kg over 21.27m.
And he also finished joint second in the Apollon’s deadlift, managing six reps of 230kg.
Ryan Garriock was the final isles participant, finishing 10th in a packed field in the men’s under-105kg. His performance of carrying 130kg over 26m in the farmer’s walk saw him place in fourth for that event.
The five strongmen and women thanked Shetland Weight Training Club for the facilities, sponsorship and continued support.
Patterson, Brain, Fazekas and Nisbet will now be keen to get stuck in to preparing for the European level competition in June.
However Fazekas and Nisbet will first be battling it out for yet another UK title with the UK’s Strongest Man under-70kg competition taking place at Clickimin Leisure Complex on April 25 at 3pm, more details about which can be found below.
Keep Shetland’s news open to everyone
Your membership helps us report the stories that matter to Shetland — and keep them free for everyone to read.
