Blake Louwrens ‘strong as an ox’ at Lions’ Show strongman competition
Records tumbled as the 'strongmen' showed off their power.
Blake Louwrens of Westville defended his title for the third year in a row at this year’s fifth South Coast Strongman held at the South Coast Lions’ Show last Saturday.
Competing in the open division, Blake smashed two records by lifting 355kg in the deadlift event and a 150kg log lift.
“I really enjoyed it, it was good fun and there was a nice vibe on the field. This event just gets better each year,” said Blake.
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“I liked that two new strongman events were added this year, to give the ‘average’ gym person a chance to compete.”
Blake said there are plans in the pipeline to make the South Coast Strongman a qualifier for the South African national championships.
Blake, the current SA Strongman Under 105kg and Arnold Classic strongman, is defending his SA Strongest-man title in less than a month.
He received a special trophy for his hat-trick of wins from event organiser, Selvan Naidoo, who thanked all the sponsors and competitors.
“They are the people who have helped make this event a huge success. It just gets better and better each year.”
The competition, which is gaining popularity, attracted 23 contestants, some coming from as far afield as Johannesburg, Durban and Matatiele.
The competition consists of six events: deadlift, log lift, 277kg tyre flips, car pull, farmer’s walk (with two cylinders weighing 100kg each) and the yoke walk.
The two new events added this year were the log lifts and yoke walk.
Ryan Preston from Uvongo was placed second in the open division with a personal best deadlift of 320kg.
He was followed by Senzo Mbambo of Port Shepstone in third place.
House Nyawose was fourth, Peter Lues and Allan Botha in a tie for fifth place, followed by Arné van Niekerk and Chris Bester.
Terrence Viviers of Matatiele is always a strong contender and it was no surprise that he won the Under 90kg division.
Stefan Coetzee claimed second place, followed by Des Paton in third.
Keegan La Marque placed fourth, Mondli Cele fifth, Brandon Dean sixth, with Kabelo Moche and Michael Guy in a tie for seventh.
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