Shahlaei set for the USA

2:46pm Friday 4th July 2008

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BUSSAGE Strongman Laurence Shahlaei has reached the final of the Britain's Strongest Man competition in Minehead.

Shahlaei's aim was to secure a top five place in this year's competition and qualify for a place at the world's strongest man in West Virginia, USA in September.

Due to confidentiality agreements, it is not possible to reveal Shahlaei's final placing.You can find out how he fared by watching Britain's Strongest Man on Channel Five from August 11.

The early stages in Minehead saw four groups of five competitors battling out in six events over three days with the top two in each group going through to the final over a further two days.

Shahlaei had a tough group with Wales Strongest Man Jamie Redwood, the winner of Britain's Strongest Man 2006 Oli Thompson, and Midland Strongman Dave Meer, and Scottish strongman Euan Cameron, all in his group.

The first event was a tyre flip and drag. A 380kg tyre had to be flipped three times and then a huge anchor and chain dragged 15m to the finish line. He had a good start and finished second in this event.

The next event was the Viking press - 130kg to be pressed overhead as many times as possible in 90 seconds. This is usually a weak event for Shahlaei so third place in this was a good result and maintained his second place position overnight.

The first event of day two was the barrel loading. Two heavy beer kegs and two sacks had to be loaded onto a high platform 15m across the beach. This was an event which relied on speed, but the trickiness of running with heavy weights on sand cost Laurence him first place after he fell with the first barrel. He recovered and still managed to take second place behind Oli Thompson.

Next it was down to the beach for the keg toss. This was an event that Laurence had not done before and although he struggled, he managed to secure joint second place.

The first event of the final day was the squat.

In joint second place overnight, this was an event he needed to do well in. He completed all seven barrels up to a weight of 320kg and took second place.

The final event of the heats was the famous Atlas Stones.

Due to the points scores, He needed to finish no more than two places behind Dave Meer in this event. He came second and secured his place in the final.

Shahlaei would like to thank Explosive Nutrition (www.explosivenutrition.co.uk), who provide him with all of his supplements for training and competition.

After a successful start to the year, Laurence needs sponsorship to enable him to train full-time and compete internationally.

If you can help please call Laurence on 07793 775913.