Jarno Hams is the strongest man of the Netherlands 2010

Gorilla Wear sponsored athlete Jarno Hams won the final of the ‘strongest man of the Netherlands’ competition in Hoofddorp on 18 juli 2010. The final consisted of 6 separate events: the truckpull, the tree trunk lift, the stones of strength, the deadlift, the Hercules hold, and the medley. Jarno finished first in 5 of the 6 events. He lost the Hercules hold to Richard van der Linde.

The finals of the strongest man of the Netherlands where apparently popular in Hoofddorp. It was very hard to find a seat not yet taken. In fact, it was very hard to find any spot with a clear view on the whole event. Some people even climbed a nearby bus cabin for a good view. I had to follow the first event, the truckpull, mostly with my ears. In the truck pull the competitor puts on a harness and hooks it to the truck. He then grabs a rope, and pulls himself and the front wheels of the truck over the finish line. Jarno Hams was one of the early competitors, and set the benchmark to just over 27 seconds. No one else managed to live up to that. Most of the competitors scored somewhere between 30 and 40 seconds.

The next event was ‘tree trunk’ lifting. Competitors needed to lift a massive iron bar with cut-out handles above their head. Technicians screwed additional weight on the ‘tree trunk’ after each lift. The winner would be the guy who could lift the most weight. At this point I found a good spot on the terrace of a small cafe, just behind the terrain fence. I soon discovered why this spot had not yet been taken. It was almost impossible to understand the announcer. His voice sounded like an enthusiastic mumble. Damn. And the referee obscuring my view didn’t help either. After Jarno Hams won this event I started looking for another viewing spot.

By this time several people had left, and I managed to get a spot with a good view of the stones of strength. In this event the competitors needed to lift four massive stones of varying weight on a wall of varying height. Most of the competitors needed to lift the ‘light’ 120 kg stone over their head to reach the top of the wall, but that wasn’t the problem. Everybody managed to lift the 120 kg stone high enough, but Jarno was the only one who got the heavy 170 kg stone on the wall. An obvious win. At this point the announcer called Jarno more or less the winner of the game by declaring that the battle was now for the second, third and fourth place.

After lifting stones the competitors had to lift massive halters with wheels on either side, the Deadlift. Each competitor could choose to start above the default starting weight, but failure would mean no score at all. Jarno chose to start at 330 kg. Only a few competitors got to his starting weight. Another win for Jarno.

The next event was called the Hercules hold. Competitors needed to stretch their arms to the side, and hold onto the chains for as long as they could. Not an easy job, because the chains where both weighted down with a refrigerator and a washing machine. Most competitors held on for about 30 seconds. Jarno scored somewhere between 30 and 40 seconds. The obvious winner here was Richard van der Linde, who held on for over 57 seconds.

The final event was the medley. The competitors needed to flip a massive tire five times in a row. After that, they needed to carry two big pieces of cloth wrapped in plastic to the tire. These pieces of cloth weighed approximately 110 kg according to the announcer. Most competitors carried the cloth in an uncomfortable sort of bear hug. Jarno was the only one able to shoulder the cloth, which gave him the opportunity to move at much greater speed. Another clear win.