FORT CARSON, Colo. — Soldiers and Family members gathered at Waller Fitness Center Oct. 16, 2021, to take part in the annual Strong Soldier competition. The event is one of the top strength and conditioning events held on post each year, and it measures each person’s willpower to fight through difficult challenges.
David Falls, manager, Ivy Physical Fitness Center, said the goal of the lifting series each year is to test individuals’ strength, fitness and mental toughness. This year Falls put together a competition beyond any of his past events. The competition proved to be intense, leaving competitors lying flat on their face or back after completing each exhausting test.
“There are thousands of other places the competitors could be, but they chose to be here,” Falls said. “We also have several staff members and volunteers here to make sure everything goes well. Safety is our top priority, so we want to make sure the competitors know safety is first and how they do is second. This event is designed for people to fail, so we want to see how much they can do knowing they won’t be able to do all the events successfully.”
The competition had multiple events, with the top two finishers in each squaring off in the championship round to determine the winner. The events included:
• Stone lift
• Log press, where the competitors had one minute to complete as many repetitions as they could.
• Deadlift, where 20 kilos were added after each successful lift
• Sled pull that included weight
The finale was a lift that the top two finishers had to hold longer than their competitor to win the event.
Noah Brooks, a competitor, said he watched strongman competitions on TV, and the competitors always seemed to be the big muscular type. Brooks, being an average size, said he wanted to show this event is for everyone.
“I look at guys with big muscles doing these events, and initially I was just going to watch today,” Brooks said. “Then I decided I wanted to see what I could do to represent the small guys. I’m here to compete and see what I can do.”
Evan Bolder has been weightlifting since 2015 and said the appeal to weight training for him is to test himself each week by seeing what he can accomplish.
“My personal best (in the actual bar) is 400 (pounds), and I want to see if I can reach 450 (pounds) today,” Bolder said.
Bolder had another mountain he had to climb in order to be the top lifter in his category, which he was, because he had to face off against the defending champion, Jonathan Howard Ray. Bolder said the challenge of facing Ray would have been enough, but he knew this would be Ray’s last event as an active-duty Soldier, and he thought that would motivate him to be even better than he has been in previous years.
Ray said the same thing as he said before the event, he was looking forward to it being his last event as an active-duty Soldier, but he also said he looked forward to competing each year because it was a fun event.
“I won last year and the Summer Lift-A-Thon in addition to setting the record at Garcia gym this year,” Ray said.
“So, it makes me feel good to know that I have that kind of respect in the community.”
Bolder said he was ready to face the “ultimate lifter” at Fort Carson.
“I PCS before the next competition … and he is retiring, so I may not get the chance to challenge myself against a person like him again,” Bolder said. “So, I’m ready to see what I can do.”
At the end of the event many competitors were smiling and relieved that the grueling event was over.
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