1. Gerrit Badenhorst (S.Afr) - GB
2. Jouko Ahola (Fin) - JA
3. Berend Veneberg (Hol) - BV
4. Wout Zijlstra (Hol) - WZ
5. Bill Pittuck (Eng) - BP
6. Regin Vagadall (Far) - RV
7. Laszlo Fekete (Hun) - LF
8. Gustavo Pujades (Sp) - GP
9. Remijus Kazinskis (Lit) - RK
10. Bryan Neese (USA) - BN

There were six events:

Event 1. Loglift	Event 4. Hercules Hold
Event 2. Truckpull	Event 5. Squat
Event 3. Deadlift	Event 6. Stones of Strength

Wout Zijlstra trying the squat-rack for size, just before the competition. 
Group foto: Gerrit, Jouko, Bryan, Berend and Jarno Hams posing. 
Jarno competed last year in the World Team Championship in Hardenberg.
 

Event 1: Loglift			Wout Zijlstra	Gerrit Badenhorst
Bryan Neese	Bill Pittuck	Berend Veneberg	Jouko Ahola	Berend Veneberg

The Loglift was the first event of six. Wout Zijlstra suffered from a biceps injury, and couldn't perform as well as he wanted to. The Loglift is a classic strongmen event, based on pure strength and it is one of my favourite events.
 

Competitor	Pts	Competitor	Total after 1 event
BV	10	BV	10
GB	9	GB	9
JA	8	JA	8
BN	7	BN	7
BP	6	BP	6
RK	5	RK	5
WZ	4	WZ	4
RV	3	RV	3
LF	2	LF	2
GP	1	GP	1

 

Event 2: Truckpull
Gerrit resting before the truckpull	Jouko giving it all he's got	Berend on the move!	Berend almost there

Competitor	Pts	Competitor	Total after 2 events
BV	10	GB	19
WZ	9	BV	17
RK	8	JA	14
BV	7	RK	13
JA	6	WZ	12.5
BP	5	BP	11.5
BN	4	BN	10.5
RV	3	RV	6.5
LF	2	LF	3.5
GP	1	GP	2.5

 

Event 3: Deadlift			Berend warming up
Bryan Neese	Bill Pittuck	Gerrit Badenhorst	Jouko Ahola
Bill Pittuck struggling	Gerrit Badenhorst	Jouko Ahola	Jouko Ahola

This was a classic deadlift event. The bar had to be lifted from the floor, with the usage of straps NOT allowed. Berend had a setback in this event, when he pulled a muscle. He really had been looking forward to this event, and he had won the same event a month before in the Strongest Man of Holland 1999. As would be expected, this event was dominated by Jouko Ahola and Gerrit Badenhorst.
 

Competitor	Pts	Competitor	Total after 3 events
GB	10	GB	29
JA	9	JA	23
BP	8	BV	21
BN	7	BP	19.5
RK	6	RK	19
LF	4	BN	17.5
RV	4	WZ	14
BV	4	RV	10.5
WZ	1.5	LF	7.5
GP	1.5	GP	4

 

Event 4: Hercules Hold			Laszlo Fekete	Regin Vagadall
Bryan Neese	Remijus Kazinskis	Berend Veneberg	Jouko Ahola	Gerrit Badenhorst

The Hercules Hold was the event when Wout Zijlstra decided to withdraw form the competition. Newcomer Remijus Kazinskis performed good throughout the entire competition, and looked very good also during this event. Also relatively new on the IFSA circuit was Bryan Neese. Having won America's Strongest Man this year, gave him the qualification to enter the IFSA competitions. Brian also looked quite impressive, and both Remis and Bryan look like forces to be reckoned with in the future.
 

Competitor	Pts	Competitor	Total after 4 events
JA	10	GB	36
BV	9	JA	33
BP	8	BV	30
GB	7	BP	27.5
BN	6	RK	24
RK	5	BN	23.5
RV	4	WZ	15
LF	3	RV	14.5
GP	2	LF	10.5
WZ	1	GP	6

 

Event 5: Squat		Jouko preparing for the squat	Gerrit Badenhorst
Bill Pittuck	Jouko performing well	Gerrit: No problem!	Jouko giving it all he's got

The Squat was a very exciting event, with again the real battle going on between Jouko and Gerrit. During one of his heavy lifts, Jouko shifted the entire squatrack, and couldnt complete his lift, being off balance!! The device had to be supported with additional weigth to ensure it from sliding away again. After this, he was so pumped up that he did a terrific good lift. The muscles in his arms in the last foto look very impressive. Nevertheless, the event was won by Gerrit Badenhorst.
 

Competitor	Pts	Competitor	Total after 5 events
GB	9.5	GB	45.5
JA	9.5	JA	42.5
RV	8	BP	34.5
BP	7	BV	33
RK	6	RK	30
BN	3	BN	26.5
BV	3	RV	22.5
LF	3	WZ	18
GP	3	LF	13.5
WZ	3	GP	9

 

Event 6: Stones of Strength		Laszlo psyching up	Regin doing well
Bryan struggling	Berend doing well	Jouko in control	Gerrit lifting the 4th stone

The last event of the day, with competitors growing tired of the previously 5 events. Still an exciting event though.
Regin Vagadall dropped of the stones, and it broke!! There was a silence which lasted a couple of seconds, leaving the crowd, competitors, and officials in astonishment. Then the crowd started cheering for Regin, who just laughed about it. The event was finished with 4 stones instead of 5.
 

Competitor	Pts	Competitor	Total score
BV	10	GB	53.5
RV	9	JA	49.5
GB	8	BV	43
JA	7	BP	40.5
BP	6	RK	34
BN	5	BN	31.5
RK	4	RV	31.5
LF	2	WZ	20
GP	2	LF	15.5
WZ	2	GP	11

Berend Veneberg and IFSA vicepresident Illka Kinnunen 

Me and Gerrit after the competition 
The proud winner of the Dutch Grand Prix 1999: Gerrit Badenhorst!
 
 

All photos copyright (C) by Elco Kroek