World's strongest '˜ever' man enthrals Cookstown crowd

The three-times World’s Strongest Man and World Powerlifting Champion was touring UK and Mack-Zimise was chosen as the North’s only venue to hold the seminar, quite a compliment to the club and its owners. Memorably crowned as the World’s Strongest Man in 1980,1981 and 1982, he was so dominant that the time that he was controversially was not invited back for five years, surely robbing him of another four or five titles. Some of his amazing feats of strength include his 440kgs Squat, 300kgs Bench and 405kgs Deadlift, and they were all done even without the aid of lifting suits. Bill also lifted 480kgs in silver dollar deadlift and was first man to lift all five maglashen stones. The hall of fame winner is still an imposing sight at 62, 25 stone and standing 6ft 3in. The giant American had lots of wonderful stories to tell and kept his supporters enthralled, with the packed gym drawing terrific inspiration from the man renowned for his tremendous seminars right across the world. Local world champion Randall Crooks had first hand experience three months before his title win in Portugal. “The great Dave Warner introduced me to Bill at Irish muscle power expo in Belfast. I was struggling with my lifts and had zero confidence and was considering pulling out of the worlds” Randall explained. Bill gave Randall words of advice and sent a private message with words of encouragement, giving the Cookstown man the drive to go to Portugal and bring back a world title. Bill thrilled the audience with stories of years gone by and ended with questions and answers. However, the highlight was when local man John McKeever handed the mighty man a heavy duty frying pan with a steel insert and challenged him to bend it. With everyone watching and trying to capture the moment on their phones. the great man incredibly rolled the frying pan into a ball. The crowd stunned at what they just saw gave the strength legend a standing ovation. Local MLA Ian McCrea was one of the guests and thoroughly enjoyed the night. Richard Jamieson proprietor of Mack-zimise gym said the night was a huge success and that Bill had took time at the end to sign autographs and get pics took. People had came from all across the country and had left feeling motivated and inspired. Richard would like to thank Dave Warner for bringing Bill to Northern Ireland and Randall Crooks for helping make the visit a huge success and to everyone that came along to see the living legend. Mack-Zimise is located at 2 Molesworth Street in Cookstown and anyone interested in joining can contact Richard on 028 867 58885.