Crowd wowed over feats of strength

Lucas Punkari

As both an organizer and a competitor, it was a double victory for local resident Luke Skaarup on Friday night at the first-ever Fort Frances “Strongman” competition.
Skaarup helped organize the event, which was held in conjunction with the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce’s annual Home & Leisure Show at the Memorial Sports Centre, then went on to top the nine other competitors taking part in the event with 41.5 points out of a possible 50.
“My primary goal was to put on a good event for everybody and to have something that can entertain the Town of Fort Frances,” Skaarup noted.
“For me as a competitor, it worked out pretty well and I ended up winning a few events.
“So it all ended up working out pretty good,” he reasoned.
Those who travelled from out of town to take part in the competition lauded Skaarup for how well the evening went.
“The event was well, done in a very timely fashion, and all of the events were bang on,” said runner-up Kyle Rayner of Thunder Bay.
“It was one of the best-run events I’ve ever been to, and it definitely [was] worth the drive,” echoed third-place finisher Joel Dircks of Mankato, Mn.
The competition opened with the “farmer’s walk,” where competitors carried a 300-pounds steel object in each hand over a 150-foot course, which Skaarup did in a time of 25.47 seconds to take first place.
“I got a little bit close to the vehicles that were to the side [which were part of a sales booth by Sunset Country Ford], so I had to slow down a little bit so that I didn’t hit those,” Skaarup smiled.
Skaarup then picked up another 10 points with a first-place showing in the dead-lift event, where he made 12 repetitions of the 585-pound weight in 75 seconds.
The following two events belonged to Rayner—edging Dircks to win the 270-pound log press event with nine repetitions in a minute before setting a fast time 20.82 seconds to capture the sandbag carry and sled pull medley.
“I think the log press was my best event for me, but I was also really proud of how I did in the dead-lift,” noted Rayner, who also earned a berth to next month’s Ontario Strongest Man competition in Toronto thanks to his runner-up showing here.
“Coming behind both Luke and Dallas [Hogan] in that event is a huge honour for me as I consider them to be two of the strongest guys in the province, if not the top two,” he added.
In the final event of the evening, which saw competitors pull a 7,000-pound truck over 80 feet, Winnipeg native Jonathan Wade set the fastest time with a 28.29-second effort, which vaulted him into fifth place in the final standings.
“It’s not necessarily my favourite event, but the truck pull just happened to be the one that I ended up winning in,” Wade reasoned.
“I just kept taking the slack out of the rope and I kept puling as hard as I could,” he explained.
“I really had to make up for the rough showing I had in the medley event prior to that.”
Even those who were unable to collect an event win, or contend for the overall title, were spurred on to some of their personal best showings during the evening by not only the crowd in the arena but their fellow competitors, as well.
“‘Strongman’ events are really big on that,” stressed Skaarup, who’s next event will be the Ontario’s Strongest Man in Toronto in June.
“We all have common interests in lifting heavy things, which isn’t something that most people can relate to,” he noted.
“So even if Kyle is beating me in an event, I’m still out there cheering for him and hoping that he does well.”
In addition to the men, seven women also competed in a 35-pound dumbbell shoulder press challenge, which was won by Kaitlyn Pavlik of Thunder Bay with 33 repetitions.