GCSMAW 2015 - Recap

GCSMAW - Recap

 

I’ll start with where the competition came from. About September last year Coco asked me to run a comp in November to let a few people have a go at something slightly heavier than the QLD Strongman Series but not as heavy as the Giants Live/Australia’s Strongest Man. The winners there were Jen Davis, Alana Curnow, Thomas Koch and Marc Wells (Marc won 4 from 4 events) in a field of about 30 competitors. After the comp, Luke Middleton, the man behind QLD Strongman Series at the time, made the comment that I should run it as The Gold Coasts Strongest Man for 2015. Overall, The Gold Coast Strongman Challenge ran pretty smoothly and seemed to be popular with the competitors. The only downside, we filled the gym especially during the Maximum deadlift attempt, and filled all the carparks in the area and upset all the neighbours, so no more major comps to be held at Coco’s Gym.

 

The beginning - The Gold Coasts Strongest Man and Woman 2015

I work in tourism, so I put my feelers out in the are to try and find a destination for the event. At the same time I started building this website, www.strongmangoldcoast.com so I could look legitimate with a website and an email address, rather than just some random with round boulders and a few big hairy men looking for somewhere to play ball. The tourism industry looked after me pretty quickly and we nearly had the event in the central area of Circle on Cavill, right in the middle of Surfers Paradise. A new gym opening the centre at the time shut down our chances as they saw Coco’s Gym as competition. Our saviour came from Justin and Angela and the team at Quality Hotel Mermaid Waters. After approaching Quality Hotel they were very accommodating to any request and followed that through right up to and even during the event (Both of them turned up to watch the event even though it was their holidays as well!). I am not sure I can thank them enough for the extras they put on to help us out before and during the event, it made the event that much easier and better for all involved. On top of that, the venue worked out perfectly, with great space, storage, viewing area and the food was fantastic too (The German Sausages they put on were pretty special).

 

 

Back in late 2014, before the event was even in preparation mode, Steve Harris, the man behind Harris Stability Systems, put his hand up to back up our next event. Steve came to Coco and myself to help us out with prizes for our original event too and came to the party and then some. There were $200 vouchers for first place in each division, extra prizes for our international athletes, just for turning up, and then bonus prizes like hats and straps and shirts to hand out to second and third places in the events too. The Harris original Prize Pool was $800 worth of Harris gear, after Steve turned up to watch the event, the prize pool was closer to $1500 with the surprise box of goodies Steve brought in with him on the day as well.

 

For The Gold Coasts Strongest Man and Woman, Harris had come on board from early on and was regularly a part of our discussions and suggestions for what we wanted to come up with. I wanted to give the competitors and the spectators alike a spectacle to work up to while they were at the competition. Based on The original Max axle deadlift we had done in 2014 as being crowd favourite I asked Harris to put a cash prize on anyone that could lift a certain amount of weight, the magic number, $1 per kilogram. So the mens event was set at 400kgs and the womens event at 220kgs. . As the bars to be used were to be supplied by Challenge Barbell Australia, The Harris Deadlift Challenge was born.

 

 

Along with that, Harris wanted the competitors to have something to look forward to after the event, this is The Gold Coast Strongest Steak Eater. Quality Hotel and Harris paid for the event, 50/50 to give 10 people the chance at a 1kg steak (and sides), the time to beat to get your name on the board 10 minutes! Three people gave it a really good push, Simon “Sushiman” Morelli - 14:30, Drew Spriggs (Dreadnought Strength) - 13:10 but the prize fighter of the day was Deane “Disco” Herewini with a trash compacting time of 9:20!!!!!!

 

 

The Competition itself

Event day was the 19th July 2015, lift off at 10:00am. To get to this point we had competitors coming from Toowoomba, Sunshine, Coast and Brisbane and of course, the Gold Coast. The real lovers of the sport like Vickie Farrow (driving 700kms from central NSW), Zarol Alfiyan (Malaysia’s Strongest Man) and the small fellas from Sydney, Mike Jones and Ben Simpson had all put in the extra effort to come and have a go at the comp. For me, this was humbling as this was the second competition we had ever put on and people wanted to be a part of it this much they would fly and drive for over 7 hours to be there, very special.

 

The days events, the same for all competitors but with varying weights, Farmers Walk for 40 metres, Conans Wheel, Max axle deadlift, Apollons Axle overheads and to finish with Atlas Stones for reps. 28 competitors turned up on the day (a few last minute drop outs due to injuries) plus about 10 volunteers to make it all come together. A few other big names in the industry came along to help us with prizes and sponsorships as well:

- Nutrition Warehouse - First prize supplement packs for each division $150 value each!

- Bonita Fitness Wear and Strength Wear - second place prizes for both the mens and womens divisions!

- Tangalooma Island Resort - Overnight holiday for two people, prize available to anyone who competes.

- Coco’s Gym - providing the equipment for the day and getting equipment made just for the event

 

The weather held out the whole day but managed to get a little cooler in the afternoon, much more comfortable than expected with other parts of Queensland experiencing snow at the same time! I was on the microphone all day and doing my best to keep an eye on all proceedings as it went along so I didn’t manage to see everything that happened though I do remember a few highlights of the event itself and from our training crew and friends:

- Rachel Smith - her first ever strongman competition, coming from a background in crossfit, competing against two of Australia’s Strongest Women, Rebecca Buckely and Alana Curnow. Rachel had never managed to lift the 145kg max axle minimum weight in training, on the day, not only did she lift it, on her second attempt she lifted 155kgs as well.

- Marc Wells and Ben Simpson in the Max Axle Deadlift - Both of these guys, though they didn’t make the lift, both moved the 400kgs enough to let all of Australia know that the $400 is not far away from entering someones purse.

- Wayne Ryan - Wayne, another crossfitter, who came across to have a go at his first strongman event in two years, entered in the under 105kg division. Wayne finished up in 3rd position with only 1.5points between himself and second place. Thing to note about his performance, he had never lifted a stone larger than 90kgs in the past and did a 132kg stone for 4 reps on this day, his PB on the axle deadlift was 260 in the past, Wayne finished with 285 on the day!

- Zarol Alfiyan and Marc Wells in the Apollons Axle Overhead - for many people, seeing these two tie for 3 reps each on the 127kg axles was very cool, Zarol’s strict press technique is amazing to watch in person.

- Jason Holmes - Tieing for first place in the Atlas Stones with 5 reps in the 105kg division. Jasons PB on the stone was 1 rep in the past, Jason also trains harder than anyone in the gym and its certainly paying off. He came 4th, only 1/2 a point behind 3rd in Australias Most Powerful man in the masters division this year, next year he will be on the podium.

- Friends of the Hound and their Greyhounds - Greyhounds are special to me after I had one join my family in the middle of last year and to see these animals being loved by so may other on this day was wonderful. Do you want a lovely dog, go and have a look at making a place in your home for one of these amazing animals.

 

A big thank you has to go out to many people for making it all happen:

The volunteers worked hard to put it together, the Godfrey twins and their ute (they helped load, unload, pack and unpack even though they were competing), Andre and his truck, James Darragh, Drew spriggs, Luke Middleton, Jayden Benn, Alex Thompson, Thomas Koch, William Johnson, and Arielle Chard (I hope I have forgotten no one). Thank you.

The people that helped me with silly questions and making good suggestions along the way, John Wells, Phil Burgess and Scott Jones.

Konrad Brewski and his team at Nutrition Warehouse at Ashmore for their constant support and putting on the car deadlift demonstration day.

Angela and Justin at Quality Hotel Mermaid Waters

Steve Harris of Harris Stability Systems

Eben Le Roux, currently Australia’s Strongest Man, for coming down to show off his amazing strength on the day and give the crowd another taste of what can be expected in the sport of Strongman with his 90kg Monster Dumbbell and 202kg per hand Farmers Walk!!!

Alex Evans (Garage Gym)- for the second yoke!

Cindy Hein - Cynthia Hein Photography, for letting me play with these big boulders and for taking the amazing photographs on the day.

Coco - Coco’s Gym, keep buying cool toys for us all to lift and good luck in your plans for the world champsionships in the 105kgs class next year.

Richard Gallagher - Gallagher Engineering, the 1st place trophies were loved by everyone and the workmanship on the farmers handles and axle hubs is second to none.

 

I hope to see you all for our next event, The Strongman Push Pull (Max Log, Max Axle Deadlift) later in 2015 where the Harris Deadlift Challenge will double in value, $440 for a 220kg lift for Women and $800 for a 400kg lift for men.

 

Chad

www.strongmangoldcoast.com

info@strongmangoldcoast.com