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Williams Lake’s strongman Tyson Delay takes home silver at nationals

Delay has been training for the competition for months
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After months of training, Tyson Delay competes at the Canadian Strongman Nationals. (Photo submitted)

After months of intense training, Tyson Delay of Williams Lake captured silver at Canada’s strongman competition.

“I am officially the second strongest 200-pounder in Canada,” Delay said of the win.

After battling his way through five grueling events he scored second out of the top 10 best middleweights in the country, winning two events and getting top two in another two events.

“I got to battle against pros and top tier amateurs like myself and proved that B.C.’s middleweights are not to be ignored anymore,” Delay said, noting the win earned him an invite to Official Strongman Games (OSG).

The nationals events started with an overhead press medley where athletes had to jump back and forth between lifting a 260-pound car axle overhead and then a 135-pound circus dumbell overhead. He placed second in this event with two reps on each implement.

The next event was a moving medley where athletes had to lift and run 50 feet with a 260 pound sandbag, a good event for Delay, and then jump into a 530-pound frame carry which a more challenging event. He scored seventh in this event. The next event was a 530-pound car deadlift for reps which he scored second place with 18 reps. The event after that was a 630-pound yoke run for 100 feet.

“I sprinted with it winning the event with a 17.4 second run. The final event cemented my second place when I won the stone over bar event with nine reps. The atlas stones were 285 pounds. All in all I always want to improve but I am pleased with my performance. It is a huge leap from last place four years ago.”

Delay has been preparing for Canadian Strongman Nationals for the whole summer, but started training in earnest about seven weeks ago. Preparation included huge meals and consistently healthy food. Loads of chicken, beef, rice, and assorted vegetables were the main diet, and Delay often exceeded over 5,000 calories a day just to maintain weight. He trained four times a week, each workout lasting between two to three hours. The training included lifting thousands of pounds in volume each session, hitting each and every muscle group focusing on power, mobility, speed and endurance.

Delay noted it was widely said that this year’s competition was the strongest middleweight roster to have ever graced Canadian nationals.

“Everyone was good and the guys on or near the podium were truly first class athletes, even the newer guys were impressive and incredible to compete with. Big thanks to everyone who helped get me here.”

Delay said to be a good strongman athlete you have to train for it all.

“If you leave any stone unturned you will lose to better athletes. The main focus on this training block was to build more grip which has always been an issue, and work on balance and explosive power in the overhead press.”

“All the guys in my class were putting up insanely fast times and I knew that I had to put it all on the line. Yoke walks are generally a drag race between the top two or three guys but in this case the entire roster was blazing through it.”

Delay said he was grateful for the win and wanted to thank all his supporters, sponsors and also his fiancée ksenia for all the help and support.



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