Wikipedia

Britain's Strongest Man

Britain's Strongest Man is an annual strongman event held in the United Kingdom. Competitors qualify for the final through regional heats and the winner is awarded the title of "Britain's Strongest Man".[1] The competition is produced by TWI and serves as a qualifying event for the World's Strongest Man ("WSM") competition, also a TWI production.

Britain's Strongest Man
Tournament information
LocationUnited Kingdom
Established1979; 45 years ago (1979)
Number of
tournaments
41
FormatMulti-event competition
Current champion
Scotland Tom Stoltman

History and broadcast edit

See also: Strength athletics in the United Kingdom and Ireland

In a history that has close parallels with that of the World's Strongest Man competition, the BSM competition has had a number of sponsors and, at different times, has had to vie with rival competitions that also claim to produce the strongest man in Britain as their champion. The inaugural competition was held in 1979[2] and was organised by TWI. It was broadcast by Thames Television for the ITV network that year, however coverage moved to BBC One in September 1982 until 1984 but returned in August 1999.[3] The final contest involved the field athletes Geoff Capes and Jim Whitehead, weightlifter Andy Drzewiecki, powerlifter Ray Nobile, Highland Games specialists Bill Anderson and Grant Anderson, wrestler Big Pat Roach, and Tosher Killingback; it was won by Geoff Capes.[4] The contestants were there by invitation and the format continued until 1984. There was then a break of three years, from 1985 through 1988, before the competition returned in 1989.

In 1986, there was a "Britain's Most Powerful Man" and, in 1988, a competition was organised by Geoff Capes and David Webster to find a successor to Geoff Capes, called the John Smith's Trial of Strength. The results of these competitions are often deemed to be equivalent to Britain's Strongest Man given the lack of a competition in those years. The IFSA, after its creation in the mid-nineties, managed the event but parted company with TWI and the BBC after the completion of the 2004 event. Despite this TWI have managed to have continued coverage of the event televised, with Sky One and Sky Sports covering it in 2005 before it moved to Five the following year until 2009. Digital channel Bravo covered the event in 2009 and 2010 before its closure; free-to-air channel Challenge took over coverage until it returned to Channel 5 in 2014.[3] The competition is currently sponsored by Met-Rx. As of 2017, Channel 5 currently broadcasts an episode devoted to the Britain's Strongest Man contest, as part of its annual World's Strongest Man coverage, in late December.[5]

Events edit

Events for the competition include tyre flips, chain drags, Atlas stones and keg tossing.[6]

Rival and parallel competitions edit

  • In 2005 the 'IFSA Strongman British Championship' (or "British Championships (IFSA)") was held in direct competition with the BSM. However, this was short lived, lasting just one year, with the more established BSM gaining better sponsorship (from Met-Rx) and television coverage (Sky One) largely due to its longevity, its qualifying status for World's Strongest Man and also its perception amongst the strongman community as the chief competition. The winner of this breakaway competition, Mark Felix, has since put his energies into competing in the BSM.
  • A more enduring rival competition is the UK Strongest Man 'Ultimate Strength Challenge', which began in 1992 and still continues today. However, competing in the BSM and the UKSC is not mutually exclusive and competitors are free to compete in both. This event is run by the UKSC - the UK Strength Council, and focuses more on pure strength rather than strength and speed.
  • Other rival or parallel competitions that should not be confused with the BSM are:

List of champions edit

Year Champion Runner-up 3rd place Location
1979   Geoff Capes   Bill Anderson   Jim Whitehead Woking Leisure Centre, Woking
1980   Richard Slaney   Jack Hynd   Steve Zetolofsky London, South Bank
1981   Geoff Capes   Hamish Davidson   Richard Slaney London
1982   Richard Slaney   Hamish Davidson
Brighton, Sussex
1983   Geoff Capes   Jack Hynd   John Burns Nottingham
1984   Allan Crossley   Pete Tancred &   Peter Welch Telford. Shropshire
1985 Not held
1986[a]   Pete Tancred Peter Davis Joe Walker Epping Forest Country Club, Epping Forest
1987 Not Held
1988[b]   Jamie Reeves   Mark Higgins   Peter Tregloan Tadcaster
1989   Jamie Reeves TBC TBC TBC
1990   Adrian Smith   Gary Taylor TBC TBC
1991   Gary Taylor   Christopher Miles TBC TBC
1992   Jamie Reeves TBC TBC TBC
1993   Forbes Cowan   Gary Taylor? TBC TBC
1994   Bill Pittuck TBC TBC TBC
1995   Forbes Cowan   Gary Taylor   Jamie Barr Gateshead
1996   Russel Bradley TBC TBC TBC
1997   Rob Dixon   Glenn Ross   Gary Taylor TBC
1998   Jamie Reeves   Russ Bradley   Glenn Ross TBC
1999   Glenn Ross   Steve Brooks   Jamie Barr Alton Towers
2000   Glenn Ross   Steve Brooks   Brian Bell Alton Towers
2001   Glenn Ross   Rob Dixon   Adrian Rollinson Minehead
2002   Marc Iliffe   Gregor Edmunds   Bill Pittuck Haven Holiday Park and Criccieth Castle
2003   Rich Gosling   Gregor Edmunds   Glenn Ross Scarborough
2004   Rich Gosling   Ade Rollinson   Oli Thompson Minehead
2005   Mick Gosling   Carl Waitoa   Ade Rollinson Dudley Castle
2006   Oli Thompson   Mark Felix[c]   Terry Hollands Isle of Man
2007   Terry Hollands   Mark Felix[c]   Darren Sadler Minehead
2008   Jimmy Marku[d]   Terry Hollands   Mark Felix[c] Minehead
2009 Not held
2010 Not held
2011 See Clash of the Giants below
2012   Laurence Shahlaei   Terry Hollands   Chris Gearing Colchester, Essex
2013   Laurence Shahlaei   Jerry Pritchett   Terry Hollands Gateshead International Stadium, Gateshead
2014   Eddie Hall   Graham Hicks   Laurence Shahlaei Doncaster Dome, Doncaster
2015[e]   Eddie Hall   Mark Felix   Krzysztof Radzikowski Doncaster Dome, Doncaster
2016   Eddie Hall   Mark Felix   Laurence Shahlaei Doncaster Dome, Doncaster
2017   Eddie Hall   Laurence Shahlaei   Graham Hicks Doncaster Dome, Doncaster
2018   Eddie Hall   Graham Hicks   Terry Hollands FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield
2019   Graham Hicks   Adam Bishop   Tom Stoltman FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield
2020   Adam Bishop   Tom Stoltman   Luke Stoltman FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield
2021   Tom Stoltman   Adam Bishop   Graham Hicks FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield
2022   Tom Stoltman   Pa O'Dwyer   Adam Bishop FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield
2023   Adam Bishop   Gavin Bilton   Graham Hicks FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield
2024   Tom Stoltman   Gavin Bilton   Luke Stoltman FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield
Notes
  1. ^ "Britain's Most Powerful Man" was the name of the competition in 1986
  2. ^ Titled John Smith's Trial of Strength
  3. ^ a b c Mark Felix was formerly of   Grenada.
  4. ^ Jimmy Marku was formerly of   Albania.
  5. ^ Several competitors from other European countries took part.

By country edit

Country Titles
  England 31
  Scotland 5
  Northern Ireland 4
  Wales 1

Repeat champions edit

Champion Times
  Eddie Hall 5
  Jamie Reeves 4
  Geoff Capes 3
  Glenn Ross 3
  Tom Stoltman 3
  Richard Slaney 2
  Forbes Cowan 2
  Rich Gosling 2
  Laurence Shahlaei 2
  Adam Bishop 2

Clash of the Giants edit

In 2011, an event was organised in Boroughbridge advertised to allow spectators to see "top British strongmen compete to take a step closer towards a place at World's Strongest Man". The event was organised by multiple World's Strongest Man entrant Darren Sadler and the top two places, won by Rob Frampton and Jack McIntosh, received invitations to North Carolina to compete at the 32nd World's Strongest Man. Clash of the Giants was designed to fill the void left by the absence of the Britain's Strongest Man competition last held in 2008, much as the 1988 John Smith's Trial of Strength had been created following the discontinuation of the BSM in 1984. Unlike the BSM, which is the final stage of a knockout competition comprising a number of regional and national rounds, the Clash of the Giants was a singular event. Because there was no regional tiered competition preceding, it there was no prerequisite that the Clash of the Giants have a field of athletes representing each area of Britain and notably all the athletes competing were English. In addition, the three most successful British strength athletes actively competing at the time, namely Hollands, Felix and Shahlaei, had qualified for the WSM via international grand prix events and did not compete.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Retrieved from archive.org showing qualifiers
  2. ^ David Webster, Sons of Samson Volume 2 Profiles, page 78 (Ironmind Enterprises), ISBN 0-926888-06-4
  3. ^ a b "Britain's Strongest Man - UKGameshows". www.ukgameshows.com.
  4. ^ "BFI | Film & TV Database | BRITAIN'S STRONGEST MAN (1979)". 12 February 2009. Archived from the original on 12 February 2009.
  5. ^ "My5".
  6. ^ "The World's Strongest Man". 26 July 2008. Archived from the original on 26 July 2008.

External links edit

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