Cameroon strongman, Abubakarr Bona, fondly called “Baseman”, led the race in all four events to win the first edition of the Dwarzak inter-area strongest man championship held the community playing field on Saturday 4 November 2017.
At the competition, Baseman competed in the 70 kg-110 kg Ball Lift in 1.30 sec, he completed the 50 meters 50 kgx2 Farmers Walk in 20 sec, he also deadlifted 200kg and he eventually became the hero of the night when he impressively pulled the van for 1.50 sec, scoring a total of 32 points to clinch the title.
Having won the title, Baseman expressed delight, which he barely trained for in less than two months. Saying he can’t explain how he felt after edging his opponents in all the events to be the star of the night.
The strongman yelled, “I’m so proud of myself for going through this with confidence and the support of my fans. At the initial stage, I was frightened, but I became furious after I easily passed my opponents in the 50 meters 50 kgx2 famers walk without any pressure”.
Baseman furthered that since he has won the competition, he will now lay more emphasis on developing his career in both weightlifting and powerlifting, whiles concentrating on training to prepare ahead of other major competitions.
As the current title holder, he will be the official representative of Dwarzak community in the 3rd edition of the 2018 national strongest man championship to be held at the Siaka Stevens Stadium in Freetown by Salone Got Talent Organization.
Senior Weightlifting Coach, Sonny Johnson, who was the Chief Technical Supervisor of the competition, said he was impressed to see the competitors challenge for the title with great passion, despite the tasks they faced in the process.
The weightlifting guru admitted that the outcome of the competition has paved the way for similar competitions to be hosted in various communities in search of young talented strongmen who might have the talent of lifting weights but they have no idea on how to go about it.
“We will work on it to scout more competitors ahead of next year’s national strongest man showdown. We want to take it at community level so that the competitors will get the support of their people while competing because they knew them very well”, Coach Sonny Johnson cited.
According to the spectators, it was a deserved victory for Baseman, who they earlier tagged to win the competition based on his natural forte in lifting heavyweight and his physical approach. Adding, he is a very energetic person, a strongman and a tough competitor that can compete in any of such competitions if only he can be properly trained to face other hard-hitting opponents.
By Magdalene S. Konneh
Thursday November 09, 2017.