Tyrone strongmen ‘lift’ Irish titles in Derry

TWO Strabane men and an Omagh competitor were crowned Irish champions in their categories at the Official Strongman Ireland’s Strongest Man event in Derry.

Gavin McNamee lifted the under-90kg class for his seventh Irish crown, while Thomas Cawley sealed the Masters title on the day and Omagh’s Lee Kelly clinched the under-80kg victory.

Having overcome a foot injury, which kept him out of action for several months, before winning the Ulster title last month, McNamee picked up a bicep strain ahead of Sunday’s event, which meant he went into proceedings attempting to pick and choose when to expend maximum energy.

In the end, he needn’t have been unduly concerned as his arm held up and he excelled throughout to win by a comfortable margin after finishing joint second in the max axel press, winning the deadlift for reps with seven in around 20 seconds, winning the sandbag for distance with 82 metres, was second in the farmer’s hold with 120kg in each hand, which meant he had an unassailable lead before the final event, the duck walk into power stairs, which he won with the fastest time of all categories on the day to seal the deal in style.

“I’m really happy with my performance as the line-up was the best under-90 line-up Ireland has seen to date and to take the win with an 8.5 point advantage I’m over the moon!

“I went into the event thinking I would do what I needed to do to win my best events and then just damage control on the rest.

“I didn’t know how the bicep would hold up but in the end it held up rightly.

“It’s given me a good confidence boost.”

Next up for Gavin is Ireland’s Strongest Man in Belfast on May 5th when he will be competing against the biggest and best competitors in the country, including the likes of Moortown’s Ulster’s Strongest Man, Daniel McElroy.

And while he admits he will be at a disadvantage in terms of size at Crumlin Road Gaol, McNamee feels a lack of preparation will hamper everyone on the day.

“That will be a different ball game altogether because it’s open weight, so it’s all the big boys, but also it’s events that nobody can really train for in the gym,” he explained.

“There’s a truck pull, a car deadlift, bar bending and the keg walk!

“But it will be an experience, particularly because it’s one of Glenn Ross’s shows and last year there was around 1000 people there watching and it will be on TV later in the year, so it will be good that year.”

Meanwhile, Omagh’s Lee Kelly put in a dominant display to lift the under-80kg title at the Official Strongman Ireland’s Strongest Man competition in Derry.

The 27-year-old produced a consistent display across all disciplines on the day to achieve his aim of victory, having been disappointed with his third placed result a year earlier.

“I competed last year in this competition and came third so I was determined to come back this year and give it my all and win and was very proud of myself,” he beamed.

“I was very happy with my performances over the events. I carried a 100kg sandbag for over 100metres, deadlifted 250kg easily for five reps to win that event and held 110kg in each hand for 50 seconds. I won four out of five of the events and came joint first in the other event!”

Victory on Sunday will lead to more exciting events for Lee, who has now qualified for the British championships in May and the European Championships in August, both of which he hopes to compete in.

Before those two major competitions, Lee will attempt to break the under-80kg Irish deadlift record at the ‘Official Record Breakers’ event on April 12th when he will aim to deadlift 340kgs.

In order to do so, he will alter his training in order to be in the best shape possible to achieve that aim too: I’ll be training four sessions a week now up until the competition,” he explained. “I’ll be focusing on heavy deadlifts, squats and accessory work to help me towards it.”

Lee wasn’t the only member of the Kelly family competing in Derry on Sunday, with his 20-year-old brother Thomas also in action, finishing fifth in the under-90kg class, which was won by Strabane’s former World’s Strongest Man, Gavin McNamee, who claimed a seventh national title on the day.

Meanwhile, Carrickmore’s Darren McGirr was second in the under-105kg class.