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Britain's Strongest Man

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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

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.

History and broadcast

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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

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

Rival and parallel competitions

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  • 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

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

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Country Titles
 England 31
 Scotland 5
 Northern Ireland 4
 Wales 1

Repeat champions

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

Clash of the Giants

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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

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  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.
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