Scotland's Strongest Man 2003
The Results

The Log Press
A large 110kg log had to be lifted from the floor to overhead as many times as possible. This was a very important event as any athlete who could not complete at least one repetition would be out of the competition. An this was the case for Michael Evans and David McIntyre, although they had both managed to complete a repetition with the log during training they did not succeed with it on the day. The final placing in the event were as follows

Van Deadlift
Bar extending from the end of a van will be grasped deadlift style (excluding sumo technique i.e. grip must be outside of positioning of feet). The athlete will commence lifting on referees signal.
Competitors must stand erect with legs straight and back extended in an upright position with shoulders locked back.
The weight can only be returned to the start position on the referees signal. This sequence to be repeated as many times as possible in the space of 60 seconds.
This was another crucial event where athletes had to complete at least one rep to stay in the competition. And everyone managed at least on rep so we were down to 17 competitors for the rest of the competition.
This was a great event for Paul Porteous, who repped away like a robot and easily won this deadlift event.

The Crucifix Hold
The Crucifix event is a great example of how much pain these athletes can take. The barrels weighed in at 150kg each and they then had a 20kg plate placed on top so making the weight in each hand 170kg. Any time over 20 seconds was very good and anything over 30 is considered a world class performance. Again a very good event for Paul but not far behind was the looming presence of Brian Turner and former Scotland's Strongest Man Forbes Cowan.

So at the break the points were as follows:

Paul had a good 7 point lead and Gregor last years winner was struggling some 21 points behind. He would have to make some big improvements if he was going to retain his title.

The Medley
This years medley was an invention of the Devil (Jamie Barr as he is better known). 365kg yoke for 10 meters followed by two 150kg bottles which had to be carried 10 meters and then they had to carry three 120kg beer kegs (10m) and place each beer keg fully upright on an individual barrel. There weren't many who finished the course but this was an event that obviously suited Gregor as he succeeded in gaining his first victory of the day. There were some very tired athletes by the end of this event, the only injury was Stuart Wadley tearing most of the skin off his right hand.

Keg Circle
The Keg Circle is an old favorite in Strongman competitions, this year the bar was heavier (100kg) and the barrels had been moved along the pole so that they were closer to the athletes, thus making the weight actual weight heavier again by reducing their leverage advantage. As he did last year Gregor Edmund's won this event and was the only athlete to complete 2 revolutions.

The Stones of Strength
We now came down to the last event, it had been a long day thus far and with the time pressing on past 6 O clock the athletes were keen to finish the day with a great display of strength and skill. This ia always a crowd favorite and was a great ending to the day. The stones ranges from 100kg all the way up the 170kg. The 170kg remained stuck to the floor for today but a number of athletes completing the first five stones with the last one weighing in at 150kg.

So even with winning the last 3 events of the day it was not quite enough for Gregor Edmund's to retain his title, we had a new Scotland's Strongest Man Forbes Cowan. Congratulations to Forbes who once again can call himself the Strongest Man in Scotland.

The organisers would like to thank all the sponsors who gave so generously and a big thank you to all those that helped out on the day.