Ironman 2007
On Saturday the 2nd June Stuart Cosgroves yearly Ironman competition was held at Cosgroves Physio-Fit Centre in Atherton.
Stuart Cosgrove has been competing in bodybuilding since 1976 and has numerous titles including the UK NABBA, UK WABBA and Mr Britain. He is also a well renowned physiotherapist and has treated such athletes as Dorian Yates, Ernie Taylor and Ricky ‘The Hitman’ Hatton.
The aim of the event was to raise as much money for Christies Cancer Research as possible.
There were two weight categories: Under 85Kg and Over 85Kg.
The contest consisted of seven events designed to test the competitors muscle power and endurance.
Hack Squat | Full range of movement should be performed, beyond 90° flexion, pausing momentarily at bottom and also at full lock |
Bench Press | Pausing momentarily at chest, press to full lockout |
Deadlift | No bouncing at lower end of range, dead bar up to full lockout |
Smith Machine Shoulder Press | Bar down to below chin and press to arms length |
Chins | When pulling up chin must be level with the bar, must lower until arms are fully straight |
Dips + Weight | Dipping down until the elbow is at 90° flexion, up to full lockout |
Standing EZ Curls | Pause at bottom of the movement then curl up to shoulder level |
Out of the seven events competitors would choose six that they would perform.
Under 85 Kg | Over 85 Kg | |
Hack Squat | 3 x 20 Kg per side | 5 x 20 Kg per side |
Bench Press | 2 x 20 Kg per side | 3 x 20 Kg per side |
Deadlift | 4 x 20 Kg per side | 5 x 20 Kg per side |
Smith Machine Shoulder Press | 3 x 10 Kg per side | 4 x 10 Kg per side |
Chins | Bodyweight | Bodyweight |
Dips | Bodyweight + 20 Kg | Bodyweight + 30 Kg |
Standing EZ Curls | 20 Kg per side | 30 Kg per side |
Judges were keen on strict form and reps not completed as described were not counted.
Points were scored as follows:
1st | 30 points |
2nd | 20 points |
3rd | 10 points |
The turnout for the event was quite promising with easily 30 spectators, however competitors were coming up short with a number of them failing to turn up due to illness. However the day was saved by Saf Rahman and Wayne Caterall both stepping in at the last minute.
Gym | |
Dan Choyce | Intershape Gym |
John Mohammed | Body Temple |
Saf Rahman | Body Temple |
Clive Lynne | Silvers Gym |
Paul Crossland | Catts Gym |
Wayne Caterall | Catts Gym |
Event 1 - Hack Squat
Under 85 kg
Dan Choyce was called first and managed to push out 8 reps.
Second was Saf Rahman, a good effort doing 9 reps.
Last was John Mohammed, knowing he had 9 to beat he made easy work out of 10 reps.
Over 85 Kg
Clive Lynne was up first and raised the bar pushing out and impressive 15 reps.
Wayne Caterall didn’t look comfortable in this event and failed his lift.
Paul Crossland did not take part in this event.
Event 2 - Bench Press
Under 85 Kg
John Mohammed started things off with an incredible and unbeatable 25 reps.
Saf Rahman was next, showing amazing determination but unfortunately not managing a complete rep.
Dan Choyce had to complete 1 rep to secure 2nd place but went on to push out 7 clean reps.
Over 85 Kg
Clive Lynne was first under the bar and set the pace doing 5 reps.
Wayne Caterall equalled that, also doing 5 reps.
Paul Crossland not wanting to tire himself out for the events to come pushed out 6 seemingly easy reps to secure first place.
Event 3 - Dead Lift
Under 85 Kg
All competitors did not take part in this event.
Over 85 Kg
Paul Crossland was first to go looking strong with 15 reps.
Clive Lynne was next up doing 7 reps before taking a 15 second rest and banging out another 3 bringing his total to 10 reps. Clive walked away from the bar with blood dripping from his thigh where the bar had scraped him.
Wayne Caterall started off with 4 reps, took 15 seconds rest then pressed on adding 2 more reps bringing his total to 6.
Event 4 - Smith Machine Shoulder Press
Under 85 Kg
Saf was first to go pushing out 2 full reps but not completing his 3rd attempt.
John looked strong again making light work of 11 reps.
Dan just went for 3 reps to secure 2nd place.
Over 85 Kg
Wayne had the crowd behind him on this one but was unsuccessful on his 3rd lift leaving him with 2 reps.
Paul was second pushing out an impressive 8 reps.
Clive went for second place just doing 3 reps.
Event 5 - Chins
Under 85 Kg
First to go was Saf, not a strong event for him but showing determination he clinched 3 reps.
John was second doing an inspiring 24 reps.
Dan didn’t want second place this time and gave it everything he had, regrettably he only secured second place with 21 reps.
Over 85Kg
Paul was the only competitor in this event and was told that he must do at least 4 clean reps to get first place points - he did 9
Event 6 - Dips
Under 85 Kg
John was first go and showed everyone why he was last years champion by laying down 34 reps.
Dan dug deep giving it everything he had with 18 reps.
A good effort followed with Saf, doing 16 reps.
Over 85 Kg
Clive was first to go setting the bar at 13 reps.
Wayne was next giving it everything he had but falling short with 11 reps.
Paul knew what he had to beat and did just that with 16 reps.
Event 7 - EZ Curls
Under 85 Kg
Saf started the event with 15 reps.
Dan was next and started off strong, the crowd was behind him and he got the loudest cheers from the audience all day which drove him to do 31 reps.
John was last and his target was 31, John looked like a machine doing 35 strict reps.
Over 85 Kg
Clive started off with 15 reps before taking a 15 second rest then pressing on with another 5 to bring his total to 20 reps.
When Paul started his reps it looked as though gravity had been turned off, he pushed out 19 reps before taking a 15 second rest, he picked up the bar and pressed on to 21, pausing momentarily and asked Wayne how many reps he could do, Wayne responded saying “21″, so Paul did one more bringing his total to 22 reps.
Wayne did 7.
The results were as follows:
Hack Squat | Bench Press | Deadlift | Shoulder Press | Chins | Dips | EZ Curls | ||||
Under 85 Kg | Reps | Reps | Reps | Reps | Reps | Reps | Reps | Total Reps | Total Points | Place |
Dan Choyce | 8 | 7 | x | 3 | 21 | 18 | 31 | 88 | 110 | 2 |
John Mohammed | 10 | 25 | x | 11 | 24 | 34 | 35 | 139 | 180 | 1 |
Saf Rahman | 9 | 20 | x | 2 | 3 | 16 | 15 | 45 | 70 | 3 |
Over 85 Kg | Reps | Reps | Reps | Reps | Reps | Reps | Reps | Total Reps | Total Points | Place |
Clive Lynne | 15 | 5 | 10 | 33 | x | 13 | 20 | 96 | 130 | 2 |
Paul Crossland | x | 6 | 15 | 8 | 9 | 16 | 22 | 96 | 180 | 1 |
Wayne Caterall | 0 | 5 | 6 | 2 | x | 11 | 7 | 31 | 80 | 3 |
Paul Crossland and John Mohammed were the winners of each category but all who took place walked away with a prize. This is the fourth time John has won his weight category, next year we hope to get more people involved to challenge John for the trophy and raise even more money for charity.
As well as the Ironman event a “Guess the Reps” competition was running. The aim was to guess how many reps would be performed in total by the winners of each category. Wayne Caterall guessed the exact number of reps and won himself a £50 voucher to use at Cosgroves Physio-Fit Centre.
We would like to thank Stuart Cosgrove for putting on the event, dedicating his time and money to make it an enjoyable day for all who attended and for letting us cover the event.
See all the pictures from the event in the gallery: Ironman 2007 Gallery
The Ironman competition will be held at the same time next year and welcomes all contenders.
If you would like to make a donation to Cancer Research please use the provided link: Christies Cancer Research