Powerful Lowvelders show off their strength
Poweful Lowvelders put on a show of force at the AGFO Expo.
The mightiest men and women of the Lowveld put on a show of strength at the Strongest of Them All competition at the Agfo Expo on the weekend.
Open to the public, entrants had to compete in four events – tyre flip, farmer’s walk, dead lift and atlas stone.
Competing against the clock, competitors had one minute to complete as many flips, lifts and carries as they could manage, all the while straining against massive weights.
“Some of the guys lost the skin off their hands, but overall the event was a great success with no serious injuries and healthy support from the onlookers,” said Pieter Els, one of the event organisers.
Tessa Els, well known in the Lowveld for her remarkable feats of strength, dominated the senior woman’s category, awing the crowd by dead- lifting a bakkie 17 times in one minute.
The co-organiser of the event, Yolanda Lizamore of Fit to Go Training Centre, White River performed exceptionally well in the senior women’s category, finishing third.
Ruhaan Koekemoer of CrossFit Nelspruit won the senior men’s category, with Richard Jonker taking the junior men’s title and Erica Victor the junior women’s title.
“We have good talent here in the Lowveld and it’s been good to see more women taking part in the events. We have some strong girls and women around and I am hoping to give people more exposure to strongman events at the CrossFit box,” said Koekemoer.
“It was great to see the interest in people expressed in the event and the sport,” said Els, who has big plans for the future of the sport in the Lowveld.
“We would like to see events like this grow and include more competitors, so next year I’ll be looking to get some big names from Gauteng to come and showcase their talents,” said Els.
Lowvelders can look forward to two strongman events at CrossFit Nelspruit, with an internal Olympic weightlifting event on October 21 and the South African Masters weightlifting on November 25.
“All the events are open to the public, and people that want to compete have only to register before the events,” said Koekemoer.
