On a beautiful summer day in the north eastern high lands of Victoria, Beechworth connected with it's past ancestry with celtic folklore. Embracing these high land traditions I was asked by the organisers to prepare a suitable strength test.

Throwing up the 160kg Challange Stone in Beechwortk

This I did by offering $500 to any man who was able to lift a 160kg manhood stone onto a chest high platform. Many brave men from different regions took to the challenge bent there backs, wrapped their arms around the huge stone and pulled for all they were worth. None succecced except for myself, the 160 is but a weekly training weight for me and posed no problems.

Easily locking out 1030 lbs on the Dead Lift - This was followed by 1130 lbs. I could not go any higher because we ran out of plates! He! He!

To finish proceeding I demonstrated a deadlift lockout on a rising bar finally running out of plates before my back had given way. To the applause of the small but energetic crowd I locked out 1,130 lbs. There was more in the tank but this will have to wait for another time and place.

19 0ct World Drug Free Powerlifting Championships / St Petersburg Russia.

Standing under one of the many iconic statues of Lenin

I went into this event injured (sprained ligaments in my back, bruising and partial paralysis of my left thigh.) My competition came from a big determined American, Richard Edinger. This set the scene for one of my best victories ever as we went lift for lift down to the very last deadlift to decide a winner. I had previous plans of totaling in excess of 850 kg total in the 145kg unequipped division but ended with 725kg for the win.

Pulling over 300kg for a win in the 145kg Division

You can't always be at your best but it's in these times you have to keep your metal, keep things together and keep pushing forward. The whole experience was highlighted by a great after party drinking huge amounts of Russian vodka and eating all the Russian caviar I could stomach. The camaraderie was truly great.

17 0ct All Strength Nations Challenge St Maartin / Caribbean.

Eight 4 man world teams fought for supremacy on the sun bleached beach in front of little Divi Bay resort.

I was elected team captain of the island warrior team, a difficult job trying to meld 4 men from very different backgrounds and sports (two international rugby players and a new comer from the States. We had not seen each other before and it seemed we all had different ideas of how to compete. We lacked the necessary chemistry to be a force in these sort of team events and we paid the price.

Wrestling on the Beach

From the start, although we were very mobile as a team, we lacked the necessary horse power to beat other teams, so a frustrating pattern emerged of us missing the required mark by the smallest of margins, I believe we had opportunity at times to win specific events but failed to coordinate our efforts maximally. Our aim is to learn from this and move on.

Drinking Rum with Fast Eddie and friends on the beach front of Little Divi Bay Resort. It's hard not to smile!

From my observations, the best team profile during the comp was that the of overwhelming winners, Team Ukraine. Rarely did I ever see their team apart during the 10 days we were there. They were of similar height/weight and strength and importantly strategically danced to the same tune. In the end it was a machine like effect. St Maartin , I recommend for any traveller seeking "the tropical paradise". Beautiful one day, even better the next. And by night you can sit back and enjoy the local coconut rums and gentle sea breezes that cool the hot Caribbean nights.