BeStrongman Decin 2024 - beginners and amateurs | Detailed report with results

This year, at the end of June, BeStrong organized the third year of a large and attractive race, where fans of strength sports came to their own. Everybody had their turn, because not only men competed in several categories, but also representatives of the fairer sex. The traditional venue was once again made possible by the North Bohemian city of Decin, where the race was held.

On Saturday the spectators could cheer on the beginner strongmen and in the afternoon the amateur strongmen who competed for valuable points in the Strongman League. Sunday morning then belonged to the girls and women and the afternoon to the King of Axle race, which was actually a double battle. If Vít'a Zlámal aka BeStrong subscribed to the nice weather, he probably gave too much, because the whole weekend was probably the warmest this year. But that's one of the few things you can't predict in advance.

As far as these combined events go, there is a clear advantage, the spectator can enjoy great sportsmanship throughout the weekend and can compare the performances of each group of racers for themselves as well. For me, definitely a good thing for the presentation of the sport as such.

But let's start in order

Beginners race

The beginners opened the whole day and were additionally divided into weight categories U80, U90, U105 and OPEN. All competitors had the same disciplines, but they differed only in weights, the bigger the weight category, the heavier the weight of all disciplines.

• Axle Deadlift - slight deficit on max reps
• Pressure medley - double dumbbels, double dumbbels axle/log
• Super Yoke 15m
• Trapbar Hold
• Sandbag carry

Despite the complicated organization, everything at the race went absolutely smoothly and without unnecessary delays, for that I can write straight praise. The results will be a bit more difficult to present in text, so that everyone can get a good idea of how what ended up, but I will try. There will always be a winner for the discipline presented, or some interesting fact.

Pressure Medley

Lifting the single-arm and continuing to lift the log overhead sounds easy, and several athletes decided to try this great strength sport for themselves. In the open category, Jiří Rauš outshined everyone by being the only one to complete a log repetition. In the middle category up to 105 kg won Filip Kastl. In the lightweight category up to 90 kg Dominik Váca and in the ultralight category up to 80 kg Matěj Fidler.

Axle deadlift

A very popular discipline is just anything with a thick axle, not only is it hard to hold, it doesn't bend and doesn't help the competitor even by a blanket. In the open category Josef Capouch won with 6 reps, Patrik Novotný did a great 11 reps in U105, then in U90 Vojtech Betka's 14 reps means that next year he can do more, the same applies to U80 where Michal Stepanek did 15 valid reps.

Trapbar tribute

The time trial weight hold is a bit of a thankless discipline, it's not just about strength and grip, in this case it's all about the head. A lot of athletes really don't like this discipline because they can't get enough strength and endurance. It's literally every second is half a minute long...

Josef Capouch was the most successful in the openo, he lasted 48.27 seconds. In the U105, two competitors had the greatest strength, both physical and mental, and both had the same time of 48.85 seconds. They were Patrik Novotny and Tomas Vlcek. Vojtek Betka was the best in U90 with a time of 50,61 seconds. And in the lightest category Lukáš Laštovka, who lasted 51.18 seconds.

Super Yoke

In Děčín the runners walked on the parking lot, so the surface was solid and flat enough for a smooth course of this running discipline. Jiri Raus was the fastest of the heavyweight runners, he covered the course in 17.37 seconds, but it must be said that 3 competitors did not carry the Yoke to the finish line at all. In u105 Patrik Novotný crossed the finish line in 19,3 seconds, in U90 Jan marek, who did everything in 15,5 seconds and among the lightest JakuB Korec in 11,39 seconds.

Sandbag carry

Taking a sandbag of a reasonable weight and having only one rule in the discipline and without a time limit, the rule was to go as far as possible without laying down. Again, it's a combination of strength and head work. Plus, if you carry a heavy bag long enough, it starts to put pressure on your lungs and you stop breathing.

In the Open category, Adam Trubka went the furthest with a fantastic 82 meters. In the U105, Tomáš Vlček lasted the longest with a great 67,6 meters, in the U90 Vojtěch Betka gave a monstrous 150 meters. In U80 Lukáš Lašotvka had a bestial 120 meters. Again, just a guide for the organizers, next time the lighter categories may be added.

The race had excellent dynamics despite the larger number of competitors in four different weight categories.

The top three, i.e. medal positions in each category went to

Results

In the Open category

1. Jiří Rauš
2. Adam Trubka
3. Josef Capouch

In category U105

1. Patrik Novotný
2. Tomáš Vinkl
3. Filip Kastl

In category U90

1. Vojtěk Betka
2. Dominik Váca
3. Jan Marek

In category U80

1. Matěj Fidler
2. Lukáš Laštovka
3. Jakub Korec

Amateur race

On Saturday, 29th June, in the afternoon, amateur competitors took part in the race, competing not only for the race cup, but also for valuable points in the Czech Strongman League. And it was definitely something to watch. The competitors reached the very bottom, not the Elbe flowing right next to the race venue, but their own bottom of strength and will. Amateurs competed in the following disciplines:

• Loading medley
• Axle press
• Axle deadlift
• Super yoke
• Hercules hold

These five disciplines had only one task, to find the strongest and most flexible competitor. Let's go boldly into it.

Loading medley

And right off the edge, the competitors took a run. Their task was to take a 140kg sandbag and carry it 10 metres over the line, then come back and fetch a 100kg Husafell stone, which is a metal replica of Iceland's mythical Húsafell stone, but to give you an idea, it looks like a coffin. The Husafell was carried 15 metres, then back again to the start and the last weight was an 83 kg barrel which had to be carried 20 metres.

Most of the competitors managed to complete everything, unlucky was Matěj Brabec, who failed to carry the last barrel only just, by about half a second. Ivan Davidik fell with the barrel after the finish line, he still went through the whole race, but in the end it turned out that he cut his chin badly and in the final round he got 5 stitches from the doctors. Petr Toman took the third place with a time of 44:16, Martin Szabó deserved the second place with his performance, he finished in 42,43 seconds. Milan Čanda took the victory, but it was a close one, as he crossed the finish line with a time of 41.32 seconds.

Axle press

Raising the axle above the head, by making the axle wider it is harder to move, many competitors choose to alternate grip and then overthrow. I personally don't like over gripping, so a nice over grip from the bottom... Plus, the rules said to drop the barbell to the floor after each rep and reposition and punch out again.

Unfortunately, the entire half of the starting field had trouble getting through at least one rep with the axle loaded to 125kg. On the other hand, the best ones managed to repeat several times. The third place was jointly taken by Matěj Brabec and Vojtěch Slavík, who managed 2 repetitions. Milan Čanda, one more, gave 3. The winner of the discipline and 4 times axle over the head was Petr Toman.

Axle deadlift

Deadlifts again, it's been quite a few years since Martin Sedlacek, now a retired professional strongman, said that without deadlifts a good race is not a good race. So here, too, was the lifting, and here, too, with a fat and inflexible axle of a straight 255 kg. Here I can already state that most of the starting field managed at least one or two reps. Martin Szabó and Ondřej Batelka took a split third place with 4 valid reps. Pavel Juricek and Milan Canda took the second place again, they managed 6 repetitions. The discipline was won by Petr Toman with 7 repetitions.

Super yoke

Very interesting things happened in this discipline. It usually happens at competitions that a competitor excels in the push disciplines and then slightly loses in the running disciplines, or vice versa. Every now and then it happens that someone wins start-finish. But for the racers to divide themselves almost into thirds and then fight for hundredths of a second according to the given group, I have never seen that. The first group is the 5 riders who didn't bring a super yoke and therefore the distance counted for them.

Then the second group where all fought with times of 23,??? and all within the given seconds. Then the strongest group where again there were 3 riders within less than a second, you really don't see that. Fourth place Martin Szabó 16:28, third place Ivan Davidík 16:03, silver place Matej Brabec 15:58. It was a real fight. On the other hand, Pavel Juricek literally ran away from everyone by a steamer, finishing in 11.22 seconds. It should be added that the Super Yoke weighed a nice 390 kg and this is a weight that until recently was worn mainly by professionals, and this shows how this great sport is moving forward.

Herucles Hold

A very interesting discipline for the spectators, until recently in our country we could see, especially in Čáslav, its variant, when instead of poles on chains the competitor holds 2 cars on a tilted platform, here was Hercules hold in a beautiful design, even similar to the one that was a few years ago in Cologne and which was eventually sold to Germany. So bravo. Just to give you an idea, one single competitor had a time of around 36 seconds. Everyone else got over 56 seconds. The winners then just over a minute. Third place went to Willem Minarek and Herdul kept 1:05.27. Vojtech Slavik held on for about 3 seconds longer in a total time of 1:08:26. The greatest determination and grip strength was left to Milan Čanda alias Lord Voldemort, who held Hercules in 1:12:05.

Results

It was an incredibly close race. In the end, only half a point separated first and second place. Who was the lucky one, who showed that he was the strongest, who chose his bit of bad luck? Here we go... Martin Szabó took the third place and bronze from the race to Tupadel - 52,5 points. Silver went to Petr Toman with 59 points. And it was the victory at Herculo that brought a total of 59.5 points to Milan Čanda, who took home the gold and the overall victory in the amateur competition, and at the same time the full number of points for the Czech Strongman League. Congratulations.

I would like to briefly stop over the organization, even though it was only the third year, the race in Děčín has earned the reputation of a very well prepared and well managed race, both from the point of view of the competitor and the spectator. It is one of the few chances to see strongmen in North Bohemia. I just hope that it will not end with the third edition and that in a few years you will read another review that may start with the words.

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