The Strongest in the Northeast

Holly Barker: Strongest woman of the Northeast

Gathered on the banks of the Hudson River, in the sleepy town of Poughkeepsie, New York, men and women--short and tall, young and old, large and small, have gathered under a hot August sun to find out who will leave as the strongest person in the eastern United States. If you've ever seen the World's Strongest Man replays on ESPN or ESPN2, you know what's about to happen; giant men moving giant weights.

"It reminds me of a bunch of dogs, all stalking around and growling with their hair standing on end," one astute observer proclaims."And it's exciting to watch."

Strongman has been around as long as mankind; Since a caveman picked up a giant rock or pushed a tree to the ground with a mighty "GROGGG!!" strength has been used to distinguish the alpha male from the beta male, the leader from the led. In Ireland, there are giant semi-round stones scattered about the countryside called Inver Stones, weighing anywhere from 200 to 500 pounds apiece, which have been used for thousands of years to determine when a boy has reached manhood. In the Middle Ages, a popular pastime was to see who could throw the heaviest rock the farthest. Even the first Olympic games in Greece included rudimentary challenges with rocks and sticks that over time developed into the shot-put, discus and javelin throw. Many of the events in modern strongman use big rocks and logs to test the strength of the competitors, harkening back to these days of yore.

In the mid 1800s, strength sports experienced a boom in the United States. By the 1950s, strongman events had started appearing across the country, until 1971 when two organizations were created in the US and in Europe. Now the competitor's ultimate goal was to reach the World's Strongest Man competition, which also began in 1971. In 1994, the World's Strongest Woman competition was added. Today multiple organizations on each continent sponsore numerous competitions, but the goal is the same: to become the World's Strongest Man or Woman.

The North American Strongman Society (NASS) is putting on today's event here in Poughkeepsie. The largest strongman organization in America, it functions much like the minor league system you'd see in baseball. Men and women compete to make it to NASS nationals, where they attempt to win their pro card, which entitles them to compete in professional events all over the world, where in turn they can earn a berth in the World's Strongest Man and Woman competition that takes place each year.

The sport of strongman is itself largely underground, the only coverage coming from the occasional showing on the ESPN networks, but most often taking a backseat to "sports" such as billiards and poker when it comes to press coverage. NASS co-founders Dione and Willie Wessel say the sport is growing and gaining popularity. "Our sport is growing, we're not as underground as we once were. It used to be almost like a cult following, there'd be the same people everywhere we went," Willie tells me, a noticeable Louisiana drawl in his speech. "Now we've got more and more competitors at each event, and our number of competitions per year have doubled. We went from having around twenty per year to having close to fifty this past summer." Willie is a world class powerlifter and a strongman competitor himself. Aside from all that, he's a voracious promoter of NASS and its athletes, having recently performed some feats of strength on the Late Show with David Letterman, including loading a 400 pound stone to a five foot platform and carrying a refrigerator on his back 100 feet.

Dione, at 130 pounds, is one of the top amateur strongwomen in the US, and her enthusiasm for the sport shows in the energy she emits, bouncing from foot to foot while speaking to me. "What other sport do you know of where the competitors are going at it against each other, tooth and nail, and yet they still cheer each other on? Even golfers fight and cuss each other out! But go to any of the NASS contests, whether you're a beginner or an up -and-coming pro, and everyone supports you, cheers for you, and pats you on the back and tells you good job when you finish. That's why I love this sport, and that's why we're building up a small army of men and women that love it too."

After listening to the Wessels speak, it's hard not to share their enthusiasm for the sport. The number of competitors grows each year, but they still are extremely low compared to the more mainstream sports like football or basketball. Heavyweight competitor Gerard Benderoth has a theory about that.

"This sport requires more hard work and dedication that any other I've competed in. Who wants to go outside and flip a 900-pound tire when it's 15 degrees and snowing? You can't just train in a gym and expect to get better at what we do; you have to train with the actual implements to get better with them. It's no different than a basketball player shooting hundreds of jumpers a day, except we're flipping tires and loading stones. Most sane people would pick the basketball over the stones."

At 6'5" and close to 300 pounds, Benderoth is a giant of a man. With a chest as big as a keg and thighs as big as most men's waists, he commands respect. Surprisingly soft-spoken, this New York City police officer hopes to follow his dream of earning a pro card one day.

"I've been busting my ass for about ten years in the gym, and close to five years in this sport. I used to be an amateur boxer and a Highland Games competitor, so I've always been involved in strength. With this, I'm hoping it'll eventually play out so I can make some money off of my training, even though I'd train either way." With that, he begins to stretch out and warm-up for the assault his body is about to take.

Today's first event is scheduled for noon. Each competition has anywhere from four to ten events, which differ from contest to contest, and they test everything from back strength to leg strength, shoulder strength to grip strength. Points are awarded in an ascending fashion, lowest total at the end wins. First place in each event gets one point, second gets two, and so forth. There are three men's divisions: lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight. Each division competes in the same events, but the weights increase per division.

"These women aren't giant, masculine she-males."

There are also two women's divisions: lightweight and heavyweight. Yes you read correctly, four women are competing today. These women aren't giant, masculine she-males. Quite the contrary, three of them are competing in the lightweight class, which is for those under 141 pounds, while the fourth weighs in at 160 pounds and 5'8"(lighter than the lightest man by thirty pounds). She's already won her weight class by default (being the only heavyweight female), so she's competing in the lightweight male category, using weights that would cripple most women.

This athlete's name is Holly Barker, and she's a little angry right now. "I was disappointed to not have competition in my division, but going up against the men will definitely be a good test for me." Wearing a pink tank top and shorts, her broad shoulders and thick back make a few of the men envious. She's not rippling in muscle like a bodybuilder; she'd actually look quite normal in a dress. It doesn't seem like too many women would be interested in this sort of training; after all it is called strongMAN.

"Well my boyfriend is a competitor, and he took me to a couple of contests last year," she tells me with a shrug. "It made me want to train with him, so he put me on a program and began preparing me for this summer. I thought it was fun watching him compete, and I decided I wanted to do it. So here I am."

Unlike the women, the men differ from one to the next quite noticeably. There are plain looking men who wouldn't seem out of place in a suit and tie at a board meeting, and they are going shoulder to shoulder with men that wouldn't look out of place at an eating contest, bellies sticking out like they've just swallowed a volleyball, and they're competing against the men you'd expect to see on ESPN-all bulbous muscle and bulging veins. Many of the competitors are weekend warriors, just here to have a good time. The crowd, mainly family and friends, stands three deep, cheering on each man and woman.

Today's contest consists of five events. Each is a struggle of man against himself. Mind power plays a large role in what these men and women do, as many of the events come down to mind over matter, triggering a flight or fight response. This innate response is triggered in all of us during moments of stress, sometimes resulting in a rush of adrenaline, other times in the urge to turn and run for the hills.

The contest begins promptly at noon, with the women's division, followed by the lightweight men, the middleweight men and the heavyweight men. The fans seem to be most interested in watching the middleweight and the heavyweight men, as they use the highest weights. "Oohs" and "aahhs," as well as shouts of encouragement and support, come from all angles during each event,. The fans exude sportsmanship, there are no ill wishes shouted or trash talk strewn about. In a day and age where athletes put down their coaches and teammates in the news every day, this is a refreshing change of pace.

The first event on tap is the harnessed truck pull. Except for the middleweight and heavyweight male divisions , everyone pulls a three ton dump truck. Competitors wear a harness over their shoulders, which is then strapped to a chain wrapped around the front bumper of the truck. On the whistle, competitors pull for all they're worth for 75 feet. Being a timed event, they want to go fast, although with 6,000 pounds strapped to their back, most of them don't move with much speed. Eyes squint and faces burn so red with strain, their eyes might pop right out as the truck tries to tear them in half. After the last lightweight male has gone, the small dump truck is moved to the side and replaced by a 24,000-pound semi-truck. This monster is what the middle and heavyweights will use.

The middle's go first, and only two of the six are able to finish the course. The heavies put on a show, with each man going faster than the first. Last up is Benderoth, and after being strapped in he gets down in a football crouch and waits for the whistle. When it sounds, he leaps out of his crouch like a lion , his legs fire like giant pistons and he's off down the course in a flash. The crowd doesn't even cheer, they seem to be in shock at the speed he moves with. He finishes the course in just a touch over 20 seconds, taking first place by eight seconds. The crowd explodes into a raucous ovation.

The second event takes place on a specially manufactured piece of equipment resembling a giant T attached to a cross bar about 4 feet high, called a Viking Press. The top of the T is gripped by the competitors and they press it overhead as many times as they can in 90 seconds. Again, weights increase with each division, and the division's compete in the same order. The surprise of this event is the fact that Benderoth only manages to get seven reps with the 250 pounds, finishing third. He doesn't seem to be too disappointed. "Well I'm coming off an injury to my shoulder about six weeks ago, so I was pretty happy placing third. It's the first time I've really pushed it and it felt good, the strength is returning," he states matter-of-factly. "Injuries are a part of the game and you can't be afraid to push it or you'll never be a champion. Most of the guys that have been out here for a few years know that sometimes you get hurt, so you either gut it out or you go home." As Benderoth says," you've got to love it if you want it."

There's a buzz in the crowd as the next event is set up. The max deadlift is always a fan favorite. An event that's common to most contests, it tests back strength like no other event can, requiring a weight to be pulled from the ground to a standing position. A two inch thick bar is used to stress grip strength along with back strength (keep in mind that the average gym barbell is only one inch thick). Benderoth wins the heavyweights with a 730 pound pull, 130 more than the next closest man. He makes it look easy as he squats down and pops right back up with the weight as if the bar were empty, and after three events he's already got a lead of four points.

Remember Ms. Barker? She puts on a show by gritting her teeth and ripping up 345 pounds, taking second place. She's been a fan favorite here today. "The fans have been great, I think I'm running more on adrenaline from them than I am on anything else! I can't believe how supportive they are."

Asked about her current standings, she felt that she could be doing better.

"Well I slipped a little with the truck pull, and that cost me some time and a couple of points. Other than that, I think I'm alright and that I have a chance of placing in the top three if I get my head in the right spot." She exhibits no fear as she nonchalantly chews a banana and sips a protein shake to keep up her strength. She's already earned the respect of each and every competitor and fan out here today.

The spectators dwindle as the afternoon rolls on. The downtime between events eventually leads some to wander off. On the otherhand, I Europe strongman is big business. Every competition, no matter how small, draws a crowd that is educated in the sport. The athletes are able to earn money based on endorsements and television coverage, like baseball or football players do here, and that's what Dione dreams will happen for NASS athletes in the coming years.
"Our hopes are that eventually the networks will catch on and we can get a contract so we can pay the top competitors. That way they won't have to work a full-time job, they can devote themselves to training like the Europeans do, and we can get an American World's Strongest Man champion again, something that we haven't had since the early 1980's. It's a few years off, but we're making huge strides."

Big tire for a big girl

Speaking of huge strides, through three events Benderoth sits handily in first place in the heavyweight division, having won two of the three events. He sits off in a corner, an intense, fierce look on his face that causes people walking past him to leave a wide berth, for fear he may turn his eye on them.

The farmer's walk is next. Each competitor will carry a certain amount of weight per hand. The fastest time over the 100 feet wins. Grip strength must be up to par, or there's no way to finish this event.

Almost sprinting the 100 feet, 175 pounds in each hand, Barker wins her first event of the day, finishing in a time of 23 seconds! Feeding off of her strong second place finish in the deadlift and the wild cheers from the remaining crowd, she seems to be gaining momentum, her hopes of finishing in the top three within reach.

Benderoth's performance rivals Barker's, as he navigates the 100 feet with 275 pounds per hand, scorching the course in seventeen seconds flat. Only two of his fellow competitors even finish at this weight, and neither of them were within fifteen seconds of his time.

With the sun slinking toward the horizon, the tension has become quite apparent on Barker's face, as she prepares for the final event of the day, the medley. Consisting of flipping a giant tire five times, and then loading four different implements on to a platform in descending height from six feet high to four feet, this event tests even the best athlete. The tire she and her fellow competitors will flip is five feet tall, two feet thick and weighs in at 500 pounds, and this monster must be flipped five times. This would seem to be enough for most mortals, but these athletes are expected to proceed on to the loading platform, where all but the middle and heavy weights will load a pony keg weighing about 100 pounds to the six foot platform, a 150 pound sandbag to a five and a half foot platform, a 185 pound stone to a five foot platform and last a fire hydrant weighing 250 pounds on to a four foot platform. The middle and heavyweights will use similar implements, but the weights of each are approximately 50 pounds greater, and their tire weighs 750 pounds!

Barker looks like a small child as she is dwarfed by the tire. Standing on end, it must be knocked over before flipping it five times. She must finish in at least fourth place in this event to ensure herself a top three overall placing. She flexes into a semi crouch and on the whistle, Barker leans into the tire and shoves it over with a resounding hollow thud. Driving her shoulders and chest into the tire, like a bulldozer clearing a path, she proceeds to flip it, slowly at first, but increasing in speed as she reaches the fifth flop. Running to the loading platform, she grasps the keg by the handles and in one fluid motion, tosses it to the top of the platform.

On to the sandbag, which she bear hugs and with just a small struggle, manages to get to its platform. Next to the stone, which after dropping twice, she steps back and takes a big breath. The crowd, hollering encouragement in her direction, seem to be pushing her to perform harder. She squats down and on her third try, she gets the stone to lean against the platform and barely manages to roll it up to its resting spot, as the spectators erupt like lava blowing out of a volcano. Her energy clearly dwindling, Barker grasps the final implement, the hydrant, and bears down on it, tugging it to her knees and squatting down with it resting in her lap. After taking a few deep breaths and gathering herself, she lets out a loud "GROGG!" and with her last ounce of energy, manages to get the hydrant on top of its platform. Stepping back, she lets out a triumphant yell, and as the crowd echoes it back to her, she collapses to the grass in a moment of total exhaustion, a smile on her face. She's finished and she knows that her time is good enough for a third place finish in the event! In a men's division no less!

The middle and heavyweights are up next. Benderoth is last to go, and he and the tire share a common beefiness, both looking like genetically engineered specimens of their own races. As the whistle sounds, he proceeds to manhandle the 750 pound tire, charging into it like bull seeing red, and tossing it from one side to the next. The loading gives him even less trouble, as he loads each implement on his first attempt, like a man among boys, finishing first again by a sizeable margin. With his performance, he has solidified a heavyweight championship for the day and a berth in the Nationals in October. For the first time today, he relaxes and lets a well deserved smile wash over his face, having run away with the heavyweight division by eight points, a blowout by strongman standards.

"The trophy has the face of a bulldog with the body of Adonis."

The final event wraps up around 4 pm. The sun sits low in the sky, reflecting off the Hudson in orange and red streaks, matching the leaves which are starting to don their autumnal coats. The athletes congregate in the pavilion on the lake to watch the awards ceremony and to get their event t-shirts. Each contestant paid a $50 entry fee, which guaranteed them a spot in the field, an event t-shirt and a meal ticket that will be used for a cookout put on by the Wessels for the competitors, following this ceremony. Willie is busy cooking the food, and the smell of hamburgers and chicken breast searing on the barbecue takes over in the pavilion. Mouths water and heads turn toward the wafting scents as Dione hands out the awards for each division. Benderoth, of course, wins in a runaway, and he receives the heavyweight division trophy for first place. The trophy has the face of a bulldog with the body of Adonis, fitting for a man with Benderoth's grit and girth. Any other day, he'd be the talk of the show. However, the surprise today was Barker.

Called to the front to receive her third place trophy in the men's lightweight division, every person in the pavilion gives her a standing ovation. With a coy smile, she waves and goes back to her seat. Called once again to receive her uncontested first place heavyweight women's trophy, the crowd erupts once more, louder than before. Once again, she waves to the crowd and a flush of red embarrassment floods her cheeks. Before she can get back to her seat, Barker is also awarded the best overall lifter trophy, given to the person who exhibited the most amount of effort and determination. Dione informs the audience that Barker has earned a spot in women's Nationals, also scheduled for October. For the third time in five minutes, the crowd stands and applauds.

Barker stands and soaks it in for a moment, both of her hands grasping trophies and one cradled under her arm. With a smile and a wave, she goes back to her seat, while the applause continues for another full minute. Dione quiets the crowd and congratulates the participants and winners, then informs everyone that the food is ready.
After the majority of the athletes have ambled out back for the barbecue, some bloodied and bruised yet still smiling, Benderoth comes over and slaps Barker on the back, congratulating her and telling her to keep up the good work. "People like you carry this sport, keep it up sister," he says with a smile and gives her a heavy-handed pat on the back.

She sits for a moment in stunned silence, the hero of the day, and gathers her thoughts. "This whole thing was unexpected. I came here with my boyfriend today just hoping to not come in last, I never imagined I'd get the best lifter or finish third in a men's division. It hasn't quite sunk in yet, I really don't know what else to say," a teary eyed Barker trails off. A flash of vulnerability flashes across her, quickly replaced by the steadfast courage that got her to this point. "I guess I'm exhibit A of why hard work pays off, I mean if I can do it, anyone can do it."

With that the victor stands and stretches her back, three trophies clasped tightly to her chest, and shuffles out to the barbecue, where she receives numerous compliments and more back slaps. A hug from her boyfriend, the middleweight men's division winner, brings another tear or two to her eyes. She dismisses them with a wipe of her hand, joins the other competitors, plates piled high, and everyone recounts the day with laughs and high fives. Willie stands at the grill, piling burgers and chicken breast five high, a smile as wide as the nearby river.

Speaking slow so as to let it all sink in, he says, "the glory of this sport is this right here. At the end of the day, everyone loves everyone, competitors become heroes, and there's not a trace of jealousy. These men and women earned every bit of glory that is thrown their way, and we each know that. For today, they ARE heroes. I never get sick of saying that the camaraderie in this sport is what's going to carry us. No matter what happens, I'll be putting on contests every weekend for the rest of my life, because I love this sport and I love everyone that comes out [to the contests]. I think of everyone here as family, and I'd rather be an underground sport forever than to be forced to lose the family atmosphere."

How strong are you?