MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Forty-one Camp Pendleton Marines put their strength and endurance up to the test during the base’s 10th annual Marine Corps Community Services’ Strongest Warrior Competition, Sept. 24.
Similar to the World’s Strongest Man Competition, Strongest Warrior is an athletic event in which service members can compete in various timed repetition-measured strength and endurance courses. The events include the Tire Flip, the Farmer’s Walk, the Military Press, a Stone Carry and the Jeep Pull.
“Like the strongest man, this competition is all about max-effort,” said Joe Artino, fitness program supervisor, Semper Fit Division, MCCS. “You have to put out 100 percent at each event.”
In the Tire Flip event, two competitors race to flip the tire of a seven-ton vehicle along a ten-meter course.
The Farmer’s Walk is a timed event in which competitors carry dumbbells, 125 pounds for men and 70 pounds for women, a total distance of 80 meters.
The Marine’s upper body strength was tested during the Military Press event. The participants had one minute to lift a set weight as many times they could above their head.
In the Stone Carry, competitors walked with a stone, 244 pounds for men and 140 pounds for women, as far as they could.
Of all the events, the Jeep Pull garnered the most attention.
Marines were strapped to a humvee and pulled it as far as they could for 30 seconds. The individual’s score depended on how fast they reached the finish line and/or how far they pulled the jeep.
“The competition itself is fun, but the training is the hard part,” said Cpl. Dillon Campbell, bulk fuel engineer, 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group. “I always felt that if you set your mind to a goal and work hard at it, almost nothing is impossible.”
One male and one female walked away with the rights to be called Camp Pendleton’s 2010 Strongest Warrior. This year, Cpl. Justin McGreger, rifleman, 1st Marine Division, and Sgt. Jennifer Landry, administrative clerk, Headquarters and Support Battalion, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, took home the championship swords.
“It’s not always about proving your strength to the people watching,” said Sgt. John Haley, Marine Air-Ground Task Force planner, I Marine Expeditionary Force. “It’s about pushing to the limit, and proving how strong you are to yourself.”
For more information about competing or watching next year’s Strongest Warrior Competition, contact Camp Pendleton’s fitness programs supervisor, Joe Artino at (760) 763-0657.