23 September 2024
A group of burly strongmen lifting giant boulders around the outskirts of an Irish coastal city must have raised an eyebrow or two among the locals.
But this is what strongmen do when competition wraps up.
For a couple of days in August, about 145 of the world’s strongest people from 17 countries descended on the port city of Galway for the Natural Strongman World Championships.
Among them were Sergeant Conor Reilly, an operations supervisor at the Oakey Health Centre, and Corporal Luke Keiger, a driver with the Combat Training Centre.
“We drove around the countryside finding all these historic stones and being these weird people on the streets trying to pick up these giant boulders – we were having a blast,” Sergeant Reilly said.
Fun aside, the championships were serious business for the herculean soldiers.
The pair competed in eight feats of strength, including deadlifts and less familiar movements such as carrying a large timber frame and tossing a sandbag.
Corporal Keiger finished seventh in the under 90kg competition after winning the log ladder.
The log ladder is a time-trial event where competitors clean and press increasing weights over their head; he completed a lift of 120kg to claim top spot.
“I missed the 130kg log, which I was spewing about because I can do 130 all day,” Corporal Keiger said.
Sergeant Reilly came in 13th in the under 105kg division. The deadlift was his best event, lifting 300kg three times to take fourth spot.
Corporal Keiger and Sergeant Reilly had never crossed paths before their competition in Ireland.
“Everybody thought we’d been friends for years,” Corporal Keiger said.
Both men said this was the strongman way.
Everyone was in it together and made friends quickly.
“Strongmen ask, R U OK?,” Corporal Keiger said.
“Everyone wants to see each other do better than they did the day before.”
It's a message he hoped to share with his children.
“I got into this because I wanted to be a role model for my son,” Corporal Keiger said.
“A role model is a benchmark rather than something to aspire to.
“After he heard about my result in Ireland, my son burst into school and said to the other kids, ‘my dad’s stronger than yours’.”
Corporal Keiger is set to compete in the Arnold Strongman Classic in October, where he hopes to lift more than 150kg to break the Australian record for the log press.
