How To Organize A Successful Strongman Competition

MCing at a Local Strongman Show in Edmonton AB

Introduction

Over the last 4 years I have competed in Strongman, locally in Alberta, Canada. The experiences I’ve gained from the competitions I’ve competed in have taught me countless lessons on how to run successful strongman shows. I have run 3 successful charity strongman competitions over the last 3 years, raising a total of (just over) $5000.00. This upcoming year I’ll be heading into my 4th consecutive year with 97 competitors enrolled.

Throughout this article I will be (attempting) to teach you how to run a successful strongman show.

What You’ll Need

The bolded points are my musts, the rest are just bonus’.

1. The Venue — typically your best option is to use a gym that already has some or all of the equipment you’ll be using. Make sure to see if the venue has insurance on competitions, chances are you’ll need to find that too to keep you protected. This can mean in an outdoor setting, or indoor. It can be in a gym, warehouse, or park; it all comes down to where you want the most outreach. Alberta Provincials 2019 was ran at a rodeo near a beer garden.
2. Google Account — I use Google for my signup form (Google Forms), with that I also have a means to export the signup form into a Google Sheets document so I can see all the information on one screen.
3. A Bank Account — To collect registration fee’s
4. An E-Mail Address — Maybe don’t use your personal email, since I suggested a Google Account, you can create an account and name it after your competition. (You’ll get lots of people asking questions about your competition, as well as a great means to communicate with sponsors).
5. Equipment — This is self explanatory
6. Social Media — Creating a Facebook Page/Event or an Instagram account named after your competition is a great way to reach your audience and get information out fast.
7. Affiliation with a Federation — Yes you can host your show privately, but you won’t get near the amount of competitors without one. People want to compete with a reason; typically federations give your competition a means to qualify athletes to larger, regional show (Provincials/State Championships, etc.).

Picking your events

Typical strongman competitions have 5 events. You’ll need to pick them for your competition. Don’t follow everyone else, make your event special. Just because 2 of the competitions this year have a Sandbag throw, doesn’t mean you need to do the same. Keep the athletes on edge; Strongman is about who is the strongest, not who’s the most trained in the specific event.

There a few types of events you can choose from: Distance for Time, AMRAP (As Many Reps as Possible) for Time, Call-Out Attempts (let the athletes pick their weights and have a set number of attempts), Last Man Standing (Every athlete does a particular weight and it keeps going up, until there is 1 person left).

Typically federations require a particular group of events: A pull event (Deadlift, truck pull), a press event (Log Press, Block Press, etc.), a moving event (Yoke, Farmers carry, sandbag carry, etc.), and a grip event. The last event is typically Atlas Stones, but it’s up to you to choose.

It is also in your best interest to have a “Count Back Event”. In the event there is a tie on the last event, and the second last event. In my federation, if there is a tie on the 5th event, you base the final score off of who did better in the 4th event. There was one year we had a tie on both the 4th and 5th event and I had to make up a 6th event on the fly to settle the score.

A great idea I’ve seen used (but never executed) is the 5th event is a qualifier. The event promoter will have a preselected number of individuals that will qualify to compete in the last event based off of the final scores by the end of event 4.

Registration

Head over to Google Drive and create a new Google Form (Or use registration software of your choice). For all of my competitions here is the information I’ve collected:

1. Personal Info: Name, Date of Birth (Most federations require a minimum age as well as sometimes have weight classes for the 40+ competitors), Address (For Marketing Reasons), Phone Number, Emergency Contact Name and Phone number
2. Competition Info: Desired Weight Class (See image below), Shirt Size
3. Waiver — Have a legal representative conduct a waiver to keep you protected that all athletes will need to sign.

Weight Classes for in accordance with CAASA’s Federation (This is a live view of my 2021 Competition, we have some full weight classes so they’ve been brought down to another bullet point so people can still be on the waiting list).

Volunteers

In the past people have reached out to me to volunteer. Here is the categories you need: (The bolded points are a must, the rest are just bonus’.)

1. Loaders/Spotters — These people will load weights on the implements/equipment during the event. I’ve found great success in merging these two categories together
2. Judges/Officials — Typically federations have a regional representative. I use that person as the main judge, and then reach out to pro’s or retired strongman in the area to come judge. You’ll need as many judges as lanes of competition. In the past I’ve ran 4 lanes. This is all dependent on the amount of equipment you have accessible.
3. Score Table — It’s in your best interest to get someone who understands the sport to run this
4. Lead Loader/Spotter — Let this person be in charge of all the Loaders and Spotters. This person should have experience in Strongman or have at least loaded/spotted for a competition in the past. This person will give direction on where to be and what to do
5. Score Keepers — Someone who will be partnered with a judge/official to count reps and write down scores to then take to the score table
6. MC — If you’re going to have an audience, keeping them engaged with what’s going on will help keep the energy high in the competition. Typically this person has a strong understanding of the events and has decent relationships with the competitors. It’s far easier knowing who you’re talking about when you don’t have to keep looking down to your roster for the name of the person who’s out on “stage”.
7. Videographer/Photographer — Since my competitions have always been charity I’ve asked local photographers to volunteer their time. If your competition is for profit, I’m sure you’ll be able to spend some money to get a professional out to capture the big day

Sponsorships

If you’ve competed in the past I’m sure you have a competition shirt. Take a look at the back of it and contact every company on the back of the shirt. If they’ve sponsored in the past, chances are they’ll sponsor again in the future. Reach out to them and explain what you have going on.

Many competitions structure sponsorship packages with different tiers. For example the Gold tier gets you more perks during the competition then the Bronze tier would; for instance a bigger logo on the back of the shirts, or more verbal announcements during the show from the MC, or the ability to set up a booth at the competition with their product without additional charge.

I find that figuring out what’s best for each company is hard. If it’s your first time organizing a strongman competition I’d suggest setting up a particular value. For me, I set that at $150.00 or more. If a company donates that amount or more, or supplies that value in product for prizes, they qualify as an official sponsor.

Keep blasting off emails to business’. Local, national, international. Let competitors know that if they have any companies they can refer you to, to let you know. The more the better!

1 Month Out…

At this point your registration should be closing down and the last few sponsors should be sending over their sponsorship fee’s. The light is at the end of the tunnel.

At this point there is a couple more decisions you need to make:

Volunteer Sticker

Black Judges Shirt

1. Shirts — Who’s getting them. In the past the priority I’ve given them was Competitors first, Judges Second, Volunteers Third. If you choose all three You’ll want them to be color coated. Typically Judges get Black, but the other two are up to you. I tend to stick to neutral colors so that it’s not just a “Gym Shirt”. People will be more inclined to wear a dark grey in public, rather then a bright orange. (Which also benefits your sponsors). A good alternative to bringing in shirts for the volunteers is custom name tag stickers with the title “VOLUNTEER” and the competition logo on it. That way they’re still able to be identified as a volunteer, but at far less of a cost then an entire t-shirt.
2. Prizes — Did your sponsors donate enough to at least have a first place prize? You may need to go out to local shops and get small gifts. This could include Supplement Store gift cards etc.
3. Medals/Trophies —This is up to you to decide. Your best bet is to get a simple 1st, 2nd and 3rd place medal for each weight class.
4. Kits — An emergency first aid kit would be a good idea to get a hold of. Most business’ are regulated to have these on site as per local occupational laws, verify with your venue that they have one. Another good kit to have would be a cleaning kit. Some gloves, and cleaning supplies. Nose bleeds and other bodily fluids are pretty common in competitions.
5. MAKE SURE EVERYTHING IS PAID — The last thing you need is the venue to pull out on you because you haven’t paid them. Double check your finances to make sure everyone has paid their registration fee’s and make sure your sponsors have fully committed (Prizes/Money) before sending off your shirt production.

SHOW DAY!!!

All that hard work over the last few months has finally paid off. It’s THE day. Chances are you haven’t slept much cause of how excited you are or from the anxiety the day brings to you.

Your job as a show promotor is to be the promotor now. You oversee the day. Your job is not to be a judge. Your job is not to be a loader. Your job is not to be a score keeper or at the score table. Your job is to chat with your sponsors, chat with audience members (to check if everything sounds good from their perspective), and coordinate the Main Judge and Lead Loader/Spotter. Let those two individuals know to come to you with any questions. You can help out here and there, but don’t commit yourself to a particular role.

Keep the flow of the show going. When one event is coming to a close, get your Lead Loader/Spotter to pull some of the spotters to get the next event prepped so you can flow immediately to the next event without any down time.

Lessons I’ve learned

1. Don’t private cater your food — My first competition I ran I went to Costco for hot dog stand supplies. Bought over 400 hotdogs. Sold 3 at the show.
2. Avoid break’s in the show — Competitors don’t want to be sitting around. If you have more then 30 competitors, they’ll have enough time sitting around waiting to be called up for the next event
3. Don’t be the hero — I’ve seen other promotors lose their mind, going crazy, because they want to be superman. Let the show run itself. If you got key volunteers that are switched on everything will pan out
4. Clean Up — At the end of the show, before awards and prizes, have everyone help clean up the venue. This will be much less work on you and your volunteers.
5. Follow your federations rules — The last thing you want to do is burn bridges with your national coordinators.
6. Respond Fast — Don’t let messages stand on unread. Get back to everyone as fast as possible
7. Set up Auto Deposit — If you bank allows it, it’s way easier then typing out or guessing passwords for everyone competing.
8. FOLLOW LOCAL GUIDELINES (Especially this year with a world wide Pandemic)

Conclusion

If you have a dream to one day run a competition, take that leap. Do it! My first show had 12 competitors, and I was begging people come and compete. My following 2 years I had over 50 competitors, and this year coming up I have 97 people signed up. 97!!! I must be doing something right.

To get more details on particulars pertaining to your competition visit your federations website.