Rumble in Rotherham at the towns First Strongman Highlands games event

ROTHERHAM HIGHLAND GAMES 2019 REPORT AND RESULTS

Added on as a special event to the existing Yorkshire’s strongest man especially for the 40^th anniversary of the Rotherham show fans were treated to some brand new test of strength events in the form of the Highland games. Complete with kilts.

This included traditional Highland games events such as the caber toss, stone throw, stone carry and our new event the mace throw. Thrown into the mix were 2 classic strongman events the 18 stone log press and the near 50 stones (300kg) deadlift hold.

Athletes came far and wide. This included former Suffolk’s strongest man Dan McNamee and regional strongman competitors Jack Tipper, Richard Hiley, Mark Thomson, two times Peak District Highland games winner and former Sheffield’s strongest man Scott Mark Litchfield, Rob Marsh and Dave Thornton 3^rd at the Peak District Highland games 2017.

Dan McNamee caber toss

Donning traditional kilts and raising more than a few eyebrows at Clifton Park with the partisan crowd cheering on the athletes, the competition was overseen by 2 times Guinness World record holder Mark Anglesea and Paul Smith a multiple title holder including a resume consisting of England’s strongest man and the World’s strongest junior titles.

Rob Marsh Log Press

The first event saw an 18 stone log press which had to lifted from the floor, then using an overhead press the strongmen had to press it as many times as they could in 1 minute. Scott Mark Litchfield took first place in the event with a super 9 reps, Rob Marsh putting a great effort in with 7 reps and Dave Thornton equalling that number with 7 reps.

Jack Tipper - JT - Mace Throw

In the throwing events Dan McNamee dominated proceedings with some huge throws on the mace  – measured on the furthest distance. In the mace throw Dan threw a massive 13.8 metres, Dave Thornton getting the closest to Dan with a 13 metres throw followed by Rob Marsh with a 12.7 metre thrown.

Richard Hiley Stone carry

Richard Hiley and Jack Tipper, debuting at their first Man Beast show, both threw the mace into double figures; 11.6 metres Richard and 12.1 metres for Jack. A great performance put in by Mark Thomson who threw a huge 12.8 metres after competing the day previously in Yorkshire’s strongest man.

Again in the stone throw, a rugged and 25 kg natural stone Dan McNamee again threw the gauntlet down with a huge 11.5 metres throw taking the event win. Dave Thornton taking second place with a 10.1 metres throw and Scott Mark Litchfield with a 10 metres throw in third place.

Left Dave Thornton right Mark Thomson

In the caber toss, a 60 kg log thrown and rotated for distance, it was Dave Thornton who dominated proceedings. Dave was showing a great level of consistency in every event accumulating points on the overall leaderboard with Dan McNamee tussling with Dave for top spot.

In the stone carry, a 180 kg behemoth, the athletes had to pick the stone up and run 20 metres as fast as they could, Scott Mark Litchfield taking the win with a blistering performance in a time of 9.14 secs, Rob Marsh with a brilliant run of 9.57 secs in 2^nd place and Dan McNamee in 3^rd with 9.77 secs time.

Winner Dave Thornton with referee and world strongest man competitor Paul Smith

The last event was a 300kg 18 inch deadlift (around 48 stones), which had to be lifted off the ground and held for the longest time. Scott Mark Litchfield dominated this event with a massive 2minutes 3.4 sec hold taking him clear of his nearest rival by 48 seconds Dave Thornton who hit a time of 1 minute 50 secs in end place and Rob Marsh in 3^rd place with 1 min 14 secs.

Scott is near enough unbeatable at holding events and seems to be able to zone out putting huge times in against the clock.

Left second place Scott Mark Litchfield right Winner Dave Thornton

In the end it was stalwart of the Highland Games Dave Thornton who took a well deserved victory performing consistently well in every event accumulating points that saw him take the win with a 1.5 point lead. Having competed at 4 Highland games competitions Dave has seen improvements in his technique on the events which surely helped him in his victory as well as just been- well as strong as an ox!

Scott Mark Litchfield, who competed the day before in Yorkshire’s strongest man, came second pushing Dave all the way and not forgetting Dan McNamee who again performed well and no doubt can take pride in dominating the throwing events only 1 point from Scott in the overal standings. At the top is was a very tight and Keenly fought battle.

Jack Tipper and Richard Hiley both performed well with Mark Thomson hitting 3^rd place in the mace throw event and Rob Marsh with an excellent performance on the log press. Finishing off with a tug of war between the strongmen and the kids the crowd were treated to some superb performances and some enthusiastic, and strong kids.

Children's tug of war with the strongmen

Full results here: https://www.slideshare.net/WORLDSTRONGMAN/results-80919-rotherham-highland-games

The overall results

PODIUM:
1. Dave Thornton WINNER 🏆🏆🏆 34.5 points
2. Scott Mark Litchfield 2ND 33 points
3. DAN McNamee 3RD 32 points

4. Rob Marsh 29 points
5. Mark Thomson 19.5 points
6 Jack Tipper 9.5 points
7. Richard Hiley 8.5 points

Log press for Reps 110kg 60 secs.
Mace throw distance 20kg
Stone throw distance 25kg
Caber toss distance 60kg
Stone carry 165kg 20 metres time
Deadlift 18inch 300kg for time.

Special thanks to Photography - STEVE STRONGMAN FAN Helper / Loader: Nick Ducker
Official Judge Paul Smith -  Scorer Morgan Anglesea - Man Beast events Mark Anglesea.

Written by Andrew Picken  Man Beast Strongman Events
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