Crowds treated to an impressive show of strength
A BAGPIPE band heralded the start of this year’s Peak District Highland Games which saw competitors pitched against each other in a series of tough challenges.
The games at Matlock Farm Park on Sunday, now in their fifth year, saw the addition of some new athletes alongside established ones, as well as a new strongwoman category.
Some of the country’s strongest men competed in events including the eight-tonne tractor pull, log press, the massive Stone of Destiny carry, the Peak District Dinnie Stone Challenge and, of course, tossing the caber.
New for this year, the women competitors were Guinness world record holder Nicky Walters; under 63kg bodyweight 2019 England’s strongest woman Chloe Brennan and teenage sensation 15-year-old Millie Thornton – also known as Millie Con Carne – in her first competition.
Nicky Walton took the overall win, with Chloe in second place and Mille Thornton in third across the stone throw, caber toss, tractor pull and Stone of Destiny carry.
In a performance that astonished the crowd, Chloe Brennan was the only woman to lift the Honorary Dinnie Stones – weighing 190kg and 160kg – in each hand.
In the men’s competition the opening event saw two-time former Peak District Highland Games champion Scott Mark Litchfield storm to the lead with 14 reps on the 120kg log press, chased by Jake Rideout on 13 reps and Jimmy Sharp from Hull with 12 reps.
With Scott looking as strong as ever, it looked like a foregone conclusion with his best events to come, but some of the new entries and a more competitive field rewrote the script in a nailbiting finale ending with the Honorary Dinnie Stones in an epic battle for first place.
Matt Cole – under 105kg bodyweight UK’s strongest man in that weight category – had a solid performance throughout the competition in his first appearance at the Peak
District Highland Games, being the first athlete to smash the old record on the Dinnie Stone hold by nearly three seconds in an amazing display of strength and determination.
Matt also blitzed the field carrying the 170kg Stone of Destiny across 20 metres in a winning time of 9.29 seconds, earning him a podium spot in third place overall.
Ryan Martin, coming into the competition late, had a great event, winning the eight-tonne tractor pull and placing second with the longest distance thrown in the caber toss – over nine metres.
Joe Bromiley, three times Liverpool’s strongest man, in his first ever appearance at the games, grappled with the events, many his first attempt, placing ninth overall from 14 competitors
Another notable athlete was Mariusz Dacz in his first ever competition, who came in fourth place with some outstanding performances cheered on by his two-year-old son and family.
In second place in the final standings across the six events came twotime Peak District Highland Games Champion Scott Mark Litchfield, pipped to the post on countback from a regular highland games competitor in a shock result.
Up stepped Dave Thornton, from West Yorkshire, who had a fantastic showing in the throwing events, clearing the largest distance with the caber at nine metres 70 and second place in the stone-throw, earning him important points going into the final event.
This earned Dave and Scott a joint
first position after the finale event, the Dinnie Stones, which Scott had excelled at previously.
But Dave blanked out the pain and not only won the event, earning himself first place, but also became the winner of the Peak District Highland Games 2021 on countback and setting a new Dinnie Stone record with an unbelievable time of one minute 13 seconds!
Andrew Picken and Mark Anglesea, co-founders of Man Beast Strongman Events, who run the competition, commented: “This competition grows year on year and with new competitors stepping up to the mark we have had a great battle witnessed by thousands of fans.
“Dave Thornton deserves all the credit he gets in a strong field of regional and national level competitors across six brutal tests of strength.”