Williston gym owner, Mitch Hughes, recently returned from Joensuu, Finland where he competed in the Strongman Championship League World Team Championships in July. Competing against athletes from around the world, Hughes and his partner ended the competition in sixth place.
This Strongman World Championship competition is part of a pro circuit in Europe with teams from Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Sweden, England, Holland and the United States competing together.
The competition had two days worth of events – four events on the first day and five events on the second.
Hughes was able to invite another Strongman athlete, Nathan Goltry, from California to compete alongside him.
“Nathan and I were able to train together here at my gym, Full Circle Strength Systems, for two weeks prior to the event, “ Hughes said. “Then we flew out of the country separately. Flying halfway around the world by yourself is definitely an experience, especially since I had to take three trains and a bus up the country from the Helsinki, Finland airport.”
The first day of events consisted of a team log overhead press that weighed 800 pounds and a team carry where the athletes carried a large construction plate compactor that weighed 800 pounds then a giant padlock front hold that weighed 66 pounds.
The final event of the day was a sandbag toss over a 16 foot high bar.
“There were nine bags that weighed from 44 pounds to 66 pounds, so I started,” Hughes said. “Nathan did the middle ones and I finished the last ones.”
The final day had five events. Starting the day was an event that involved the two men pulling a 70,000 pound John Deere forester machine, usually used for taking logs out of a forest.The second event was a giant stone carry relay, with the stone weighing in at 340 pounds. The third event was a Conan’s wheel that had a fixed weight on it and was carried in a circle. The fixed weights were four women who stood on platforms and had to be lifted up and carried in a circle.
The fourth event was a giant yoke carry, with the yoke weighing 950 pounds with a female sitting atop a chair on either side of the yoke and the athletes carrying them for 80 feet. The final event of the competition was a large box carry relay with the boxes weighing 250 pounds.
“After each box you had to tag your teammate in. We had four boxes and they had to be carried about 30 feet each,” Hughes said.
“We were sitting in fourth place after day one and fought to climb up to second, but ended up in sixth,” Hughes said. “This was a very stiff competition with almost each event finishing in a picture photo finish. By the way we performed we were invited back to another SCL competition in Finland at the end of the month.”
Unfortunately due to unforeseen travel complications, Hughes was unable to make it back to Europe at the end of August. He remains dedicated to continue his training for the next competition that is available.
