Loading ...Jimmy, Oli, Rich and Jay Go Thru’ For The South
The Isle of Grain was home to a new source of power yesterday, when the south’s top strongmen assembled at the Fen Bell Inn for the BSM Southern Qualifier. Jimmy Marku edged past 2006 title holder, Oli Thompson, by just half a point to take top spot. Rich “Gorilla” Gorvin put in a superb performance to grab third, with great support from his PSMA training partners. In an event packed with drama, hot contender for a qualifying spot - Jay Hughes - was forced to retire with a painful foot injury with two events to go. Thankfully, he had clearly done enough to impress and still gained a wild card spot for the final at Minehead in June. Final scores were;
- Jimmy Marku (55pts)
- Oli Thompson (54.5pts)
- Rich Gorvin (46pts)
- Paul Carter (34.5pts)
- Enzo Martino (34pts)
- Jay Hughes (31.5pts) - Retired after 3 events
- Mike Walsh (30pts)
- Ali Modaresi (23.5pts)
- Paul Cater (23pts)
- Sol Bathaiee (22.5pts)
- Laurence Browne (21pts)
- Ben Sparks (12.5pts)
We’ve over 500 images to sort along with a number of video clips. Be sure to call back early next week for a full event write-up.
Right: Rich Gorvin on his way to an impressive 3rd.
Event Write Up: Part One / Part Two
Below: Jimmy’s focus on cardio clearly pays off, as he blasts his way through the final event to pinch top spot from Oli Thompson.
May 4th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Damn, Oli’s looking huge - makes Jimmy look almost skinny!
May 4th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
The photos on this site are fantastic, very professional and ‘gritty’ - in fact the whole blog has a very professional look!
May 4th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Oli might look bigger than Jimmy but the competition is for strongest man not biggest!! I watched them both yesterday and it is hard to tell up close who is bigger than the other but Jimmy’s shape is unbelievable and he was very powerful and made it look easy. They are both great guys though and I wish them both good luck in the final.
May 4th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Jimmy’s performance in the last event was truly awesome. His speed and agility combined with such power was incredible to watch. And Oli is completely focused on regaining his title, he’s so hungry for it. He was a whisker behind Oli in the truck load, you can just get a glimpse of him on the other side of the truck as Jimmy loads the penultimate barrel. We spoke with Jimmy after and he reckoned he was running at about 75%
May 4th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
respect to both of them, but who impressed me the most(and not being biased) was jay until he broke his foot.deadlifting and pressing are not his best events and held is own on both. he was 1.5 points behind oli in second with 2 of his best events left so it would have been interesting.
good luck to you all.
May 4th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Yeah - I know size doesn’t mean everything… But I met Jimmy last year and I can’t believe that there’s someone bigger than him!
Well done to Rich too!
August 13th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Hey i know this person jay as he my step brother… i dont really know him too well but i watch tv when he was on the tv and he doing great as i know he broken his foot but that must hurt him when he put a pressure on him.. but he did good to be honest…