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Sports
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
By Nick Jasinski
10 things World’s strongest man
(youtube.com) World’s Strongest Man is an annual competition that tests competitors’ physical strength, endurance, and training. Held every year since 1977, the competition includes 16 separate events designed to push the Strongmen to the limits of their ability, with the eventual winner chosen based on his performances in all of the events combined.
In the Keg Toss, competitors must throw kegs of increasing weight–from 15 to 24 kg–over a 4.42 m wall. In past variations of this event, it was the height of the wall that increased while the weight of the keg stayed constant.
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The current title-holder is 33-year-old American, Brian Shaw, who won his third career title at the 2015 World’s Strongest Man competition in Malaysia. Shaw towers 2.04 m high, weighs almost 200 kg and reportedly eats 10,000 calories a day over eight separate meals. Just for comparison, a 450 kg horse has to eat 15,000 calories each day. That’s only 50 per cent more calories than Shaw eats.
The Vehicle Pull involves competitors pulling vehicles such as transport trucks, trams, boxcars, buses, or planes by a rope down the length of a 30 m course as fast as possible. The vehicle pulled often pays homage to a previous winner or the host location of the competition. For example, the 2007 competition’s Vehicle Pull involved a fire truck in honour of the 2006 champion Phil Pfister, a firefighter, and the 2008 competition held in West Virginia featured a coal truck, referring to the region’s coal-mining industry.
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Mariusz Pudzianowski has the most titles of any Strongman, with five victories from 2002 to 2008. His personal bests include a 290 kg bench press, 380 kg squat and a 415 kg deadlift. Since retiring as a Strongman in 2009, Pudzianowski has begun a second career as an MMA fighter, competing mostly in his native Poland.
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The Squat is one of the mainstays of the WSM competition, performed every year since its founding. Strongmen lift items including concrete blocks, tractor tires, cars or people as many times as they can while remaining in a fixed squat position. Another regular event is the Fridge Carry, where competitors carry two fridges weighing 415 kg on a crossbar across their shoulders along a 30m course, typically completing the event in under 20 seconds.
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Hafthor Julius Bjornsson, better known for his role as Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane in the HBO series Game of Thrones, has finished in the top three at each of the last four WSM competitions. The 2.05 m, 175 kg Icelander only began training for Strongman competitions at age 20 after suffering an injury to his knee that ended his professional basketball career after only one season on the Icelandic Division 1 basketball team FSu Selfoss.
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The Husafell Stone, first introduced in 1982, involves carrying a flat, triangular rock weighing 182 kg across the chest over a set distance, with the fastest time winning. According to legend, the stone was crafted in Husafell, Iceland over 200 years ago where it is still kept between competitions.
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The Atlas Stones are typically the final and signature event of each WSM competition. Five heavy, spherical stones are placed in front of five platforms along the length of a 10 m long course. The Strongmen must successively lift each stone–increasing in weight from 100 to 160 kg–onto waist or chest high platforms in as little time as possible.
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The away games
A fan-favourite of the WSM competition is the Car Carry. Strongmen stand inside a stripped-down automobile with a hole in the roof and in the floor, and carry it Flinstones-style the length of a 25 m course as fast as they can.
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martlets and redmen at concordia
By Nick Jasinski and Zikomo Smith
(Daniel Mortimer and Noah Sutton / McGill Tribune)
Redmen Hockey
Martlet Hockey
Redmen Basketball
Martlet Basketball
The Redmen (21-6-1) endured a 4-2 upset defeat against the Stingers (10-12-6) last Friday at Ed Meagher Arena. The defeat ended McGill’s five-game run of victories over Concordia, and provided a preview to their three game OUA East playoff quarter-finals series next Wednesday. Concordia outplayed the Redmen for the first two periods, outscoring them 3-1— senior centre Mathieu Pompei was the only Redmen player to convert in the first two periods. Rookie winger Daniel Milne was the other Redmen to find the back of the net. McGill finished second in the OUA East with a 21-6-1 record. They will play Concordia next Wednesday at McConnel Arena.
The Martlets (12-5-2) came back from two goals down in the second period to defeat the Stingers (6-8-2) three goals to two. The Martlets have now triumphed over the Stingers on the last eight occasions the teams have met. Senior forward Gabrielle Davidson was responsible for the last two of the Martlets’ goals while freshman forward Nicole Howlett put McGill on the scoreboard for the first time at the end of the second period. Captain Melodie Daoust played in her 100th career game for McGill on Saturday and scored her 200th career point on an assist for Davidson’s first goal. The Martlets are currently second to Montreal in the RSEQ standings but have already clinched their spot in the playoffs with only one game remaining.
The Redmen (9-4) defeated the Stingers (9-5) 53-44 on Saturday for their ninth win out of the last 14 games played against their crosstown rivals. The Redmen led the Stingers 17-6 after the first quarter, but by the close of the first half, Concordia had rallied to close the deficit to only two points at 2422. The Redmen found their groove again in third quarter and never looked back on their way to a nine point victory. The team’s standout player was fifth-year shooting guard Vincent Dufort of Smiths Falls, Ontario, who recorded a “double-double” with 14 points scored and 11 rebounds collected in 36 minutes on the court. This puts the Redmen into first place in the RSEQ standings with three games left to play this season.
The Martlets (12-1) defeated the Stingers (5-9) 77-64 at the Concordia Gym last Saturday. McGill was brilliant from the floor, converting 54.9 per cent of their shots, and 100 per cent from beyond the arc and from the free throw line. Rookie guard Gladys Hakizimana was in dominant form, scoring 19 points on 5-7 shooting, as well as converting a perfect 7-7 from the charity stripe, and 2-2 from beyond the arc. Three other Martlets reached double figures—senior forward Gabriela Herbert 17 points included a hat-trick of three pointers and 7-9 shooting from the field. On defence, McGill held Concordia to a paltry 27.4 per cent shooting performance—Alex Kiss-Rusk was formidable protecting the rim and recorded four blocks. McGill are firmly atop the RSEQ rankings and will play Laval (8-5) next Friday.