Yorkshire’s Strongest Man 2023 crowned in the city of Doncaster

Scott Maw from Sheffield was up against some solid strongmen including Sam Ashton, King of the North, and an athletic field made up of Hull’s strongest man and town and city titleists from across the county.

The special competition, taking place for its first time in Doncaster and hosted at Lakeside Village Outlet, was free to watch and despite one of the wettest summer weekends of the past few years the crowds flocked down to see the county’s strongest men battle it out for the coveted title.

In the first event giant logs, 120kg, 130kg and 140kg were pressed overhead in the quickest time, many not completing the three logs, but this was Maw’s event completing all three logs in front of a partisan crowd storming up the leaderboard.

Next up was the deadlift, a Ford Transit van driven into a frame with handles that all the athletes had to deadlift off the floor. In this event Maw equalled Tom Holland with a massive 12 reps. Holland was having a great competition pushing Maw throughout the competition right to the last event the Man Beast Stones.

The sack carry, weighing 130kg, but with the wet weather closer to 140kg, split the field, Holland taking this a massive 102 metres blitzing the field, Sam Ashton coming in second with 67 metres but Maw getting 3rd with 63 metres racking up more points in a consistent performance.

In the Hammer hold, 22kg Thors hammer held out in front with your arms for as long as you can, saw Sam Ashton take all the points on this event with a very impressive one minute, Shane Hurley 58.57 secs and Maw again in 3rd with 57.25 secs.

Coming into the last event, the man beast stones, 110kg, 120kg and 140kg sphere stones loaded onto a platform as quick as you can was going to be the decider. It really was down to the wire so close for podium spots.

In front of an electric crowd Maw put in a solid performance that saw him go one point ahead of Holland taking the title with Sam Ashton coming in 3rd behind Holland on countback.

In the under 105kg bodyweight division (16.5 stones) Adam Goundrill was the winner having a great performance in the last few events in a strong field of athletes followed by Steven Dutton and local Doncaster lad Mark Pearson.

In the novice category it was Aiden Barker who took the win stepping up to a regional competition and scoring big points with a well deserved title.

The competition was refereed by UK’s strongest man Paul Smith and event director and two times Guinness world record holder Mark Anglesea from Man Beast Strongman events.

Andrew Picken of Man Beast Strongman events said: “Lakeside offered a great venue to run this competition and Doncaster really supported the competition coming out in droves on such a wet day.

“Working with Lakeside village outlet the event was free to watch and it was fantastic to see the crowd getting photos with the athletes throughout the day. Yorkshire’s Strongest Man is always a popular event but it set to get bigger and better so watch this space.”