Strongmen on Dorms 2023 | Results and reportage

This has never been done before. On Saturday, May 20, 2023, competitors in the category of beginners or unregistered were waiting for a competition that has no parallel in our country, in fact, not even in the world. It was a thematic strongman race from the environment of trains and railways. In the museum of ČD Nostalgie in Lužná near Rakovník, together Lukáš and Míša Beran organized a race called Strongmen on the rails 2023. Together with them, the professional strongman Jarda Svoboda and others also participated in the organization.

Lukáš, as a huge fan, competitor and enthusiast of strength sports, is especially known for his competitions Movember Trapbar cup or Fit Effect Loglift cup. And I have to say that such themed races from the train environment are a total blast. At the same time, the whole organizing team does not forget about the charity #zvedejapomahej, i.e. supporting the Men Against Cancer Foundation. After the race, the Foundation received 10 000,- from the organizers and the racers, and another 5 000,- was voluntarily contributed by the employees of the ČD Nostalgie Museum. Great work.

On Saturday they competed in a total of four categories. U90, U105, Open and Railwayman. Each of the competitors completed a total of five events, which tested the overall strength of each of them. The disciplines were the same for all competitors, only the weights differed.

Disciplines:

• Pressure Medley
• Tension Medley
• Loading race
• Locomotive Push Medley
• Lever train ride (mystery event)

At one point it started to rain quite heavily in Lužná on Saturday, but it cleared up quite soon and then it was just nice and nothing could spoil this great experience. The race was attended by 42 competitors from all over the Czech Republic, including two Slovakian competitors (and as a note from the organizer, there were competitors from Brno) + 3 railwaymen, but they competed only as an exhibition, even so, the best managed Lukáš Rác, followed by Lukáš Leitner and then Pavel Dekoj. Congratulations. But the race went as it should, there were no injuries and I believe that all participants enjoyed it as best as possible.

Pressure medley

I would rather name the pressure medley as Axle ladder, all competitors had to lift three axle axles of different weights. U90's finished at 90kg, U105's finished at 105kg, and with the heaviest they could do any number of reps, more being better. The Open then finished at 120 kg. Among the lightest, Jaroslav Trnka and Matěj Fiedler came in a split first place, Adam Průša in the U105 and Emil Barták, Tomáš Brič and Luboš Kučera in the Open.

Drawing medley

Another medley that tested the strength of the back. The Axle, Trapbar and Axle with Apollon wheels (very large diameter discs) were lifted. Again the only difference was the weight the lightweights had Apollon 220 kg, the middleweights 250 kg and the heavyweights 280 kg. Despite this I will point out that these are novice or unregistered strongmen. The winners of the individual categories were Jarda Trnka in U90, tied with Marek Tykva, and Lukas Silhanek in U105, who managed a phenomenal 20 reps with a 250 kg apollon. In the Open category Luboš Kučera won the discipline.

Loading race

This time sandbag carry, all categories had the same conditions, same weight of sandbags. The competitors had to manage everything on a 20-meter route. Especially for the smaller weight categories it was a very difficult discipline, but most of them did a great job. Jaroslav Fousek was the fastest in U90, Marek Novotný sprinted the best in U105 and Jiri Chaloupka in Open.

Train

The highlight of the whole race, great idea to include this as the main discipline. Pushing a locomotive, more specifically a T211.0101 diesel locomotive called Piggy, which weighs about 24 tons. You don't see that in domestic competitions or international competitions. Yet when one thinks of strongmen, pushing or pulling trains is quite inviting... On the other hand, logistically it can only be arranged badly, there must be a plane, tracks and the track must lead to the track where the trains run. At the same time, there has to be some kind of car or locomotive available, and that includes operating personnel. Antonín Novák pushed the locomotive the fastest for U90, Milan Pospíšil for U105 and Jiří Chaloupka for Open.

Lever engine

This discipline was announced as a "mystery event", i.e. a secret discipline. The competitors had no idea what to expect and had to prepare for anything. On the other hand, we are talking about trains, so it is quite logical that something from this sector came up. In the end the racers had to get the lever engine moving, yes the very one we used to see in the old black and white Charlie Chaplin cartoons where he furiously pumps the lever up and down trying to outrun a speeding steam train. In the Luzhne, plus on time and as part of the race, why not, it must be a great experience. Antonín Novák was the fastest of the lightweight dredgers, Adam Průša was the fastest pumper of the medium ones and Emil Barták had the most breath and strength of the heavyweights.

The race didn't have such a big crowd, but I think it deserved it, it was unique in its own way. On the other hand, it wasn't a league race or the Czech Championship, it was about racing and helping the Men Against Cancer Foundation. It is certainly good to add that all participants of the race received prizes from Flow nutrition, the winners also received sausages from Aulický butcher shop and T-shirts from Barbel warriors. Anyway, I hope that this race was not the last and that a new tradition has just been started and we will see you next year...