{"id":3647,"date":"2018-04-10T14:37:40","date_gmt":"2018-04-10T13:37:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodvale.com\/?p=3647"},"modified":"2018-04-10T14:37:40","modified_gmt":"2018-04-10T13:37:40","slug":"pushing-the-boundaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/pushing-the-boundaries\/","title":{"rendered":"Pushing the Boundaries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Margery Hookings<\/strong> meets a remarkable young man who is bringing Britain\u2019s Disabled Strongman competition to his hometown<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a labour of love for Somerset\u2019s Gary Clarke, who next month brings the British Disabled Strongman competition to Chard.<\/p>\n

Since 2015, it\u2019s been his dream to stage the contest in his hometown after he founded the national event, which was held in Stoke-on-Trent. Similar events had taken place previously in Iceland and USA but never before in the UK.<\/p>\n

Gary is Britain\u2019s first disabled strongman and competes against athletes from all over the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been a Strongman fan since the day I could stand up,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m not sure what appeals so much about Strongman competitions, but I\u2019ve always loved them. I\u2019ve been a fan of Strongman since the days of Geoff Capes and J\u00f3n P\u00e1ll Sigmarsson. I can still hear cries of \u2018I am a Viking\u2019 to this day. I remember saying to my grandmother at the time: \u2018One day I\u2019ll be doing this.\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gary is a remarkable young man. It\u2019s very humbling to talk to him. He\u2019s already achieved far more than many able-bodied people of a similar age. I last saw him when he was a small child and I took my daughter, exactly a week younger, to his house to play. His mum had been in the next bed to me in the maternity ward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was born three months early,\u201d Gary says. \u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m blessed with cerebral palsy. But I don\u2019t know any different. In a way, I\u2019m grateful because it\u2019s made me the person I am. I\u2019m 40 now and still have lots more to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I speak to him, he\u2019s up to his ears and eyes trying to organise the event, which takes place in Chard Guildhall on Saturday 12 May.<\/p>\n

The competition is now in its fourth year. In 2017, some 25 athletes took part, including some of the top names in the Strongman sport because it\u2019s the qualifier for the World\u2019s Strongest Disabled Man competition in Norway in September.<\/p>\n

The judges at Chard will be four-time World Strongman Magnus Ver Magnusson and Arnar Mar Jonsson\u2014the founder of the Disabled World Strongman competition.<\/p>\n

These are big names for Chard. And it\u2019s hugely prestigious that the event is being held in the town. That\u2019s largely down to Gary\u2019s hard work and persistence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m most grateful for the people of Chard and local businesses for getting behind this unique event. It\u2019s good to be doing something great for the town,\u201d he says. \u201cI am immensely proud to bring it to my home town. I want it to be the best Britain Disabled Strongman event we have had.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gary has strong connections to both Chard and Ilminster, including training with Simon Lunn at Phoenix Fitness. He is hoping people from the town will come out to support the event.<\/p>\n

As a nod to the county, the event will have a Somerset theme and there will be lots for spectators to see.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got five events,\u201d Gary says. \u201cThere\u2019s a hay bale pull, an axle press, a seated dead lift, a forward hold and\u2014the housewives\u2019 favourite\u2014the atlas stones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continuing the Somerset theme, the forward hold will involve competitors lifting a large cheese wheel.<\/p>\n

Gary\u2019s passion for Strongman competitions goes back to the 1980s. A fan of Geoff Capes and Jon Pall Sigmarmarsson, he then began training with weights when he was seventeen and later became involved in disabled powerlifting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think of myself as being limited, I think of my strengths,\u201d he says. \u201cStrongman epitomises that, really\u2014it\u2019s about going outside your comfort zone and thinking outside the box\u2014especially with the things you do in training.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gary is passionate about promoting disability awareness.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy whole life\u2019s been about banishing negative stereotypes. Strongman is one of the best ways I can think of for putting disability in a positive light. There is definitely an aspect of challenging attitudes to disability. We are doing these competitions to a high standard; there is nothing light about them. It\u2019s about pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s Disabled Strongman competition is at Chard Guildhall on Saturday 12 May from 10am.\u00a0 Admission for spectators is \u00a35.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Margery Hookings meets a remarkable young man who is bringing Britain\u2019s Disabled Strongman competition to his hometown It\u2019s been a labour of love for Somerset\u2019s Gary Clarke, who next month brings the British Disabled Strongman competition to Chard. Since 2015, it\u2019s been his dream to stage the contest in his hometown after he founded the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[36],"class_list":["post-3647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-history-community","tag-margery-hookings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}