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Britain's Strongest Man is an annual strongman event held in the United Kingdom. Competitors qualify for the final through regional heats and the winner is awarded the title of "Britain's Strongest Man". The competition is produced by TWI and serves as a qualifying event for the World's Strongest Man ("WSM") competition, also a TWI production.

History

In a history that has close parallels with that of the World's Strongest Man competition, the BSM competition has had a number of sponsors and, at different times, has had to vie with rival competitions that also claim to produce the strongest man in Britain as their champion. The inaugural competition was in 1979 and was organised by TWI. It was covered by the BBC. The final contest involved the field athletes Geoff Capes and Jim Whitehead, weightlifter Andy Drzewiecki, powerlifter Ray Nobile, Highland Games specialists Bill Anderson and Grant Anderson, wrestler Big Pat Roach, and Tosher Killingback; it was won by Geoff Capes. The contestants were there by invitation. The format continued until 1984. There was then a break of three years, from 1985 through 1988, before the competition returned in 1989. In 1986, there was a "Britain's Most Powerful Man" and, in 1988, a competition was organised by Geoff Capes and David Webster to find a successor to Geoff Capes, called the John Smith's Trial of Strength. The results of these competitions are often deemed to be equivalent to Britain's Strongest Man given the lack of a competition in those years. The IFSA, after its creation in the mid-nineties, managed the event but parted company with TW1 after the completion of the 2004 event. TW1 have managed to have the event televised since the BBC opted out in 2004, with Sky One covering it in 2005 Tim Burrows was the youngest ever winner from Great Britain and Five in 2007 and 2008. The competition is currently sponsored by Met-Rx. As of 2017, Channel 5 currently broadcasts an episode devoted to the Britain's Strongest Man contest as part of its annual World's Strongest Man coverage in late December.

Events

Events for the competition include tyre flips, chain drags, Atlas stones and keg tossing.

Rival and parallel competitions

• In 2005 the 'IFSA Strongman British Championship' (or "British Championships (IFSA)") was held in direct competition with the BSM. However, this was short lived, lasting just one year, with the more established BSM gaining better sponsorship (from Met-Rx) and television coverage (Sky One) largely due to its longevity, its qualifying status for World's Strongest Man and also its perception amongst the strongman community as the chief competition. The winner of this breakaway competition, Mark Felix, has since put his energies into competing in the BSM.
• A more enduring rival competition is the UK Strongest Man 'Ultimate Strength Challenge', which began in 1992 and still continues today. However, competing in the BSM and the UKSC is not mutually exclusive and competitors are free to compete in both. This event is run by the UKSC - the UK Strength Council, and focuses more on pure strength rather than strength and speed.
• Other rival or parallel competitions that should not be confused with the BSM are:
  • "UK Championship (IFSA)", which only ran for one year in 1997
  • "Britain's Most Powerful Man", which, although a "rival" in 2007, was last run in 1986, when there was no BSM and its winners are counted in the same list as the winners of the BSM
  • "British Muscle Power Championship" - this ran from 1986 to 1998 and included some of the biggest names of British strength athletics, including Geoff Capes, Jamie Reeves, Mark Higgins, Forbes Cowan, Gary Taylor and Russ Bradley. However, it was not so much a rival of BSM as an extra competition.

List of champions

Year	Champion	Runner-up	3rd place	Location
1979	Geoff Capes	Bill Anderson	Jim Whitehead	Woking Leisure Centre, Woking
1980	Richard Slaney	Jack Hynd	Steve Zetolofsky	London, South Bank
1981	Geoff Capes	Hamish Davidson	Richard Slaney	London
1982	Richard Slaney	Hamish Davidson	Andy Drzewiecki & Errol Carnegie & Peter Welch	Brighton, Sussex
1983	Geoff Capes	Jack Hynd	John Burns	Nottingham
1984	Allan Crossley	Pete Tancred & Peter Welch		Telford. Shropshire
1985	Not held
1986 Britain's Most Powerful Man	Pete Tancred	Peter Davis	Joe Walker	Epping Forest Country Club, Epping Forest
1987	Not Held
1988 John Smith's Trial of Strength	Jamie Reeves	Mark Higgins	Peter Tregloan	Tadcaster
1989	Jamie Reeves	TBC	TBC	TBC
1990	Adrian Smith	Gary Taylor	TBC	TBC
1991	Gary Taylor	Christopher Miles	TBC	TBC
1992	Jamie Reeves	TBC	TBC	TBC
1993	Forbes Cowan	Gary Taylor?	TBC	TBC
1994	Bill Pittuck	TBC	TBC	TBC
1995	Forbes Cowan	Gary Taylor	Jamie Barr	Gateshead
1996	Russel Bradley	TBC	TBC	TBC
1997	Rob Dixon	Glenn Ross	Gary Taylor	TBC
1998	Jamie Reeves	Russ Bradley	Glenn Ross	TBC
1999	Glenn Ross	Steve Brooks	Jamie Barr	Alton Towers
2000	Glenn Ross	Steve Brooks	Brian Bell	Alton Towers
2001	Glenn Ross	Rob Dixon	Adrian Rollinson	Minehead
2002	Marc Iliffe	Gregor Edmunds	Bill Pittuck	Haven Holiday Park and Criccieth Castle
2003	Rich Gosling	Gregor Edmunds	Glenn Ross	Scarborough
2004	Rich Gosling	Ade Rollinson	Oli Thompson	Minehead
2005	Mick Gosling	Carl Waitoa	Ade Rollinson	Dudley Castle
2006	Oli Thompson	Mark Felix	Terry Hollands	Isle of Man
2007	Terry Hollands	Mark Felix	Darren Sadler	Minehead
2008	Jimmy Marku	Terry Hollands	Mark Felix	Minehead
2009	Not held
2010	Not held
2011	See Clash of the Giants below
2012	Laurence Shahlaei	Terry Hollands	Chris Gearing	Colchester, Essex
2013	Laurence Shahlaei	Terry Hollands	Mark Felix	Gateshead International Stadium, Gateshead
2014	Eddie Hall	Graham Hicks	Laurence Shahlaei	Doncaster Dome, Doncaster
2015	Eddie Hall	Mark Felix	Krzysztof Radzikowski	Doncaster Dome, Doncaster
2016	Eddie Hall	Mark Felix	Laurence Shahlaei	Doncaster Dome, Doncaster
2017	Eddie Hall	Laurence Shahlaei	Graham Hicks	Doncaster Dome, Doncaster
2018	Eddie Hall	Graham Hicks	Terry Hollands	FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield
2019	Graham Hicks	Adam Bishop	Tom Stoltman	FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield
2020	Adam Bishop	Tom Stoltman	Luke Stoltman	FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield
2021	Tom Stoltman	Adam Bishop	Graham Hicks	FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield
2022	Tom Stoltman	Pa O'Dwyer	Adam Bishop	FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield

Clash of the Giants

In 2011, an event was organised in Boroughbridge advertised to allow spectators to see "top British strongmen compete to take a step closer towards a place at World's Strongest Man". The event was organised by multiple World's Strongest Man entrant Darren Sadler and the top two places, won by Rob Frampton and Jack McIntosh, received invitations to North Carolina to compete at the 32nd World's Strongest Man. Clash of the Giants was designed to fill the void left by the absence of the Britain's Strongest Man competition last held in 2008, much as the 1988 John Smith's Trial of Strength had been created following the discontinuation of the BSM in 1984. Unlike the BSM, which is the final stage of a knockout competition comprising a number of regional and national rounds, the Clash of the Giants was a singular event. Because there was no regional tiered competition preceding, it there was no prerequisite that the Clash of the Giants have a field of athletes representing each area of Britain and notably all the athletes competing were English. In addition, the three most successful British strength athletes actively competing at the time, namely Hollands, Felix and Shahlaei, had qualified for the WSM via international grand prix events and did not compete.

Championships by country

Country	Titles
England	25
Northern Ireland	4
Scotland	4
Wales	2

Repeat champions

Champion	Times
Eddie Hall	5
Jamie Reeves	4
Geoff Capes	3
Glenn Ross	3
Richard Slaney	2
Gary Taylor	2
Forbes Cowan	2
Rich Gosling	2
Laurence Shahlaei	2
Tom Stoltman	2

See also

• List of Strongman Competitions

References

• David Horne's World of Grip is the source of the names and placings of the above finalists and champions.

Notes

1. Retrieved from archive.org showing qualifiers
2. David Webster, Sons of Samson Volume 2 Profiles, page 78 (Ironmind Enterprises), ISBN 0-926888-06-4
3. BFI film and tv database
5. List of events

• National Strongmen competitions
• Competitions in the United Kingdom
• 1979 establishments in the United Kingdom
• Recurring events established in 1979
• Annual events in the United Kingdom