21 May 2017

The World’s Strongest Man qualifiers kicked off to a strong ovation and cheers from locals in Gaborone, as muscle men from around the world competed in what seemed like body breaking events as they were pitted against each other to establish dominance in the load & drag and log lift events.

Being the first event of what would be a week-long of events around Gaborone and surrounding villages, the first event staged at the Parliament buildings saw Batswana turn out to witness the very best in the world as they exhibited brute strength, drive, agony, sweat and the will to go on when chips were down type of attitude.

Some 27 participants from countries such as Great Britain, Slovenia, New Zealand, South Africa, Iceland, Russia, Georgia, USA, Sweden and Canada all brought their A game in the first event.

Johan Els (South Africa), Tom Stoltman (Great Britain) and the defending champion Bryan Shaw (USA) got the crowd going and seemed to be the crowd favourites on the first challenge of load & drag.

By just looking at it, one could tell that the men were in for some serious stuff, 110kg of each sand bag having to be carried and placed on a surface, then after carrying all two; one had to drag a 340kg container with stones/gravel across what seemed like a 10m-20m distance.

Woulfe (New Zealand) set the bar for his fellow lads as he pulled the 340kg contained over the finish line and it seemed to spur the rest of the competitors on.

Batswana seemed to like the gestures and shouting from the competitors as they psyched themselves up and they roared too in appreciation and in sync.

Score keepers did not reveal who edged ahead on the load & drag challenge as there are other competitions scheduled for the week ahead and that is when they would reveal who is going to the finals set for this coming Saturday and Sunday at the Three Chiefs Monument, Airport and Parliament building.

The log lift challenge was held just after lunch and it proved to be where the shortest of the men seemed to hold an upper hand as it required a lot of upper built strength and low centre of gravity.

The men were required to lift a log weighing approximately 160kg and do as much reps as they could over a given time.

Another aspect of the competition was that one could do a single rep and hold the log over his head for 75 seconds to win the challenge, but no one even tried it.

The most reps one did was seven reps with others following at five four , three , two  and others only did a single rep.

Botswana Tourism Organisation seemed to have joined its dots explicitly and putting the country on the world map by bringing the World’s Strongest Man competition here.

International media such as Channel 5 from Great Britain and CBS were all in attendance and the rest of the world would be able to see what Botswana has to offer its visitors and the reception that Batswana are known for. ENDS