HEAVYLIFTERS IN COMPETITION LOG JAM

THE Gold Coast will be a beaver’s paradise this weekend as competitive log lifting rolls into town.

The overhead log lift is one of the categories in Sunday’s Static Monsters 2018 World Championships at the new HOTA centre at Bundall.

But competitors don’t exactly lop down a tree from the Hinterland and drag it onstage. There are very specific log requirements (plus, splinters).

“A lot of people would have just seen the weightlifting in the Commonwealth Games,” event creator Chad Croft explained. “Well, this is a lot like that, but with logs.

“It’s still a single implement they lift up to the shoulders and over the head.

“The men’s log is 2.2m long while the women’s are 1.8m long.

“There are handles that run perpendicular to the log, towards the middle.”

Log lifting, and the strongman sport itself, originated from the television series World’s Strongest Man, which aired from 1980-2013.

Since then, interest in the sport has rapidly increased.

Mr Croft said 63 competitors from as far afield as Canada and England would compete this weekend.

“Defining strong is a very open statement and it is about perspective — a 75kg guy could out-lift someone who’s 120kg,” Mr Croft said.

“But the word strong in this case is a naming of the sport and it’s typically defined as strength pursuits of varying measures.”

Along with the overhead log lift, competitors will be required to do an axle dead lift, with heaviest weights exceeding 450kg.

Entry to the Static Monsters 2018 World Championships is $12, available on the door or online at hota.com.au