Britain's Strongest Man

Britain's Strongest Man (or "BSM") is an annual strongman event held to determine the strongest man in Great Britain. Athletes compete from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. It also acts as a qualification system for World's Strongest Man. The events are usually very similar to the ones used in WSM. It is produced by TWI, the same producers as World's Strongest Man.

History and Rivals

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 has had to vie with rival competitions at different times, that also claim to produce the strongest man in Britain as their champion. From its inception in 1979 until 2004, the BBC covered the event, along with the producers, TW1. There was a break of three years from 1985 through 1987 before the competition returned in 1988. In 1986 there was a "Britain's Most Powerful Man" competition, the results of which are often deemed to be equivalent to Britain's Strongest Man given the lack of a competition that year. 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 in 2005, and Five in 2007 and 2008. The competition is currently sponsored by Met-Rx.

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 longeivity, its quaifying 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

ee also

*List of Strongman Competitions

References

* [http://www.davidhorne-gripmaster.com/strongmanresults.html David Horne's World of Grip] is the source of the names and placings of the above finalists and champions.

External links

* [http://www.davidhorne-gripmaster.com/strongmanresults.html David Horne's World of Grip]