Williams Lake strongman Tyson Delay has his sights set on competing at worlds.
On Oct. 21, he placed second in the U90 kilogram weight category at the Strongman Corp Canada nationals held in Winnipeg, qualifying him to compete at the Official Strongman Games, which are the worlds, taking place in Charleston, West Virginia early December.
“I did OK, I broke two Canadian records and I got second place so I’m happy,” he said of his standings at nationals.
One record he broke was for viking press, which is an overhead press event.
He did eight reps lifting about 300 pounds.
The other was for an event called keg over bar.
“The bar is about 56 inches and I’m about 5’9” so that puts the bar around my chin height. You have to pick up this keg, which is about 285 pounds, and throw it over the bar. I did that for eight reps, which everyone else in the class said hit a new record.”
Going in, Delay knew the events that had been selected were not all good for him personally, so he was happy to get second overall.
One of the events, the farmer’s walk, is a challenge because he has nerve damage in his right hand from martial arts and his right hand does not hang onto anything.
“I got last in that event which put me behind by a lot of points. I had to claw my way back for the rest of the day.”
There were 138 competitors overall.
“It was a really good show, well run and a lot of fun,” Delay said.
The nationals move around the country.
Last year it was in Thunder Bay and before that in Fort McMurray, then Quebec and Regina.
After nationals, Delay returned home and gave himself five days to heal.
He then got serious about training again on Sunday, Oct. 29.
At worlds there will be athletes from across Canada, the U.S. and every other country that does strongman competitively, he said.
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