Britain's Strongest Man

Last updated

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

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.

Contents

History and broadcast

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

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

Rival and parallel competitions

List of champions

YearChampionRunner-up3rd placeLocation
1979 Flag of England.svg Geoff Capes Flag of Scotland.svg Bill Anderson Flag of England.svg Jim Whitehead Woking Leisure Centre, Woking
1980 Flag of England.svg Richard Slaney Flag of Scotland.svg Jack Hynd Flag of England.svg Steve Zetolofsky London, South Bank
1981 Flag of England.svg Geoff Capes Flag of Scotland.svg Hamish Davidson Flag of England.svg Richard Slaney London
1982 Flag of England.svg Richard Slaney Flag of Scotland.svg Hamish Davidson Brighton, Sussex
1983 Flag of England.svg Geoff Capes Flag of Scotland.svg Jack Hynd Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg John Burns Nottingham
1984 Ulster Banner.svg Allan Crossley Flag of England.svg Pete Tancred & Flag of England.svg Peter Welch Telford. Shropshire
1985Not held
1986 [lower-alpha 1] Flag of England.svg Pete Tancred Peter Davis Joe Walker Epping Forest Country Club,
Epping Forest
1987Not Held
1988 [lower-alpha 2] Flag of England.svg Jamie Reeves Flag of England.svg Mark Higgins Flag of Jersey.svg Peter Tregloan Tadcaster
1989 Flag of England.svg Jamie Reeves TBCTBCTBC
1990 Flag of England.svg Adrian Smith Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Gary Taylor TBCTBC
1991 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Gary Taylor Flag of England.svg Christopher MilesTBCTBC
1992 Flag of England.svg Jamie Reeves TBCTBCTBC
1993 Flag of Scotland.svg Forbes Cowan Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Gary Taylor?TBCTBC
1994 Flag of England.svg Bill Pittuck TBCTBCTBC
1995 Flag of Scotland.svg Forbes Cowan Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Gary Taylor Flag of Scotland.svg Jamie Barr Gateshead
1996 Flag of England.svg Russel Bradley TBCTBCTBC
1997 Flag of England.svg Rob Dixon Ulster Banner.svg Glenn Ross Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Gary Taylor TBC
1998 Flag of England.svg Jamie Reeves Flag of England.svg Russ Bradley Ulster Banner.svg Glenn Ross TBC
1999 Ulster Banner.svg Glenn Ross Flag of England.svg Steve Brooks Flag of Scotland.svg Jamie Barr Alton Towers
2000 Ulster Banner.svg Glenn Ross Flag of England.svg Steve Brooks Flag of Scotland.svg Brian Bell Alton Towers
2001 Ulster Banner.svg Glenn Ross Flag of England.svg Rob Dixon Flag of England.svg Adrian Rollinson Minehead
2002 Flag of England.svg Marc Iliffe Flag of Scotland.svg Gregor Edmunds Flag of England.svg Bill Pittuck Haven Holiday Park and
Criccieth Castle
2003 Flag of England.svg Rich Gosling Flag of Scotland.svg Gregor Edmunds Ulster Banner.svg Glenn Ross Scarborough
2004 Flag of England.svg Rich Gosling Flag of England.svg Ade Rollinson Flag of England.svg Oli Thompson Minehead
2005 Flag of England.svg Mick Gosling Flag of Ireland.svg Carl Waitoa Flag of England.svg Ade Rollinson Dudley Castle
2006 Flag of England.svg Oli Thompson Flag of England.svg Mark Felix [lower-alpha 3] Flag of England.svg Terry Hollands Isle of Man
2007 Flag of England.svg Terry Hollands Flag of England.svg Mark Felix [lower-alpha 3] Flag of England.svg Darren Sadler Minehead
2008 Flag of England.svg Jimmy Marku [lower-alpha 4] Flag of England.svg Terry Hollands Flag of England.svg Mark Felix [lower-alpha 3] Minehead
2009Not held
2010Not held
2011See Clash of the Giants below
2012 Flag of England.svg Laurence Shahlaei Flag of England.svg Terry Hollands Flag of England.svg Chris Gearing Colchester, Essex
2013 Flag of England.svg Laurence Shahlaei Flag of the United States.svg Jerry Pritchett Flag of England.svg Terry Hollands Gateshead Stadium, Gateshead
2014 Flag of England.svg Eddie Hall Flag of England.svg Graham Hicks Flag of England.svg Laurence Shahlaei Doncaster Dome, Doncaster
2015 [lower-alpha 5] Flag of England.svg Eddie Hall Flag of England.svg Mark Felix Flag of Poland.svg Krzysztof Radzikowski Doncaster Dome, Doncaster
2016 Flag of England.svg Eddie Hall Flag of England.svg Mark Felix Flag of England.svg Laurence Shahlaei Doncaster Dome, Doncaster
2017 Flag of England.svg Eddie Hall Flag of England.svg Laurence Shahlaei Flag of England.svg Graham Hicks Doncaster Dome, Doncaster
2018 Flag of England.svg Eddie Hall Flag of England.svg Graham Hicks Flag of England.svg Terry Hollands FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield
2019 Flag of England.svg Graham Hicks Flag of England.svg Adam Bishop Flag of Scotland.svg Tom Stoltman FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield
2020 Flag of England.svg Adam Bishop Flag of Scotland.svg Tom Stoltman Flag of Scotland.svg Luke Stoltman FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield
2021 Flag of Scotland.svg Tom Stoltman Flag of England.svg Adam Bishop Flag of England.svg Graham Hicks FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield
2022 Flag of Scotland.svg Tom Stoltman Flag of Ireland.svg Pa O'Dwyer Flag of England.svg Adam Bishop FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield
2023 Flag of England.svg Adam Bishop Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Gavin Bilton Flag of England.svg Graham Hicks FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield
2024 Flag of Scotland.svg Tom Stoltman Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Gavin Bilton Flag of Scotland.svg 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. 1 2 3 Mark Felix was formerly of Flag of Grenada.svg  Grenada.
  4. Jimmy Marku was formerly of Flag of Albania.svg  Albania.
  5. Several competitors from other European countries took part.

By country

CountryTitles
Flag of England.svg  England 31
Flag of Scotland.svg  Scotland 5
Ulster Banner.svg  Northern Ireland 4
Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg  Wales 1

Repeat champions

ChampionTimes
Flag of England.svg Eddie Hall 5
Flag of England.svg Jamie Reeves 4
Flag of England.svg Geoff Capes 3
Ulster Banner.svg Glenn Ross 3
Flag of Scotland.svg Tom Stoltman 3
Flag of England.svg Richard Slaney 2
Flag of Scotland.svg Forbes Cowan 2
Flag of England.svg Rich Gosling 2
Flag of England.svg Laurence Shahlaei 2
Flag of England.svg Adam Bishop 2

Clash of the Giants

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

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References

  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. 1 2 "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.