Athletes were required to deadlift 250kg (550lb) for as many reps as possible in 75 seconds. A standard powerlifting bar was used and straps were allowed. Gerrit was quite strict on the rules and no bouncing off the ground between reps was permitted. Also, the lockout had to be complete like in a powerlifting contest although riding the bar up the thighs was allowed. Below is a picture of Ettiene fighting his last rep.

The results of the deadlift:

NAME REPS Ettiene 17 Willem 13 David 13 Arno 13 Eben 11 Rory 10 Pieter 10 Ian 10 Andre 10 Johan 9 Stephan 9 Allan 6 Hennie 5 Malone 4 MartinS 3 Wimpie 0 MartinJ 0 Nico 0 Driko 0

It is very obvious that there was only one man in this competition; Ettiene Smit. He simply demolished the field with an amazing 17 reps. That's slightly over four seconds per rep or a total of 4250kg (9350lb) in 75 seconds. Amazing. When my turn came I tried to give chase but the lungs gave out after 13 reps. There was no way that I could catch him. The one big upset of this event was Malone's low position due to him injuring his hamstring after four strong reps, forcing him to abort. Very bad luck. At least he didn't suffer a major tear and was able to continue with the competition.

Eben, who has established a reputation as a very strong deadlifter came in at 5th position with Rory, Pieter, Ian and Andre all managing 10 reps in 6th position.

The overall point standings after the deadlift looked as follows:

NAME POINTS Ettiene 37 Arno 36 David 33 Willem 25 Stephan 23.5 Ian 23 Andre 23 Malone 23 Johan 22.5 Hennie 22 Eben 21.5 Pieter 21.5 Rory 19 Driko 14.5 Allan 13 MartinS 8.5 Nico 6 MartinJ 4.5 Wimpie 3.5

Ettiene's win in this event was sufficient to edge me out of my short-lived lead after event 1. The first three positions were way ahead of the rest at this point with positions 4 to 11 being almost dead equal and the last seven positions tapering off after that. The guys that gained positions during this event were Ettiene, David, Willem, Ian, Andre, Eben and Nico. By far the biggest gain came from Willem, who shot up from 12th position right up into 4th overall. The athlete who lost most positions here was Driko who went down from 8th after the truck pull to 14th after the deadlift. Hennie also lost 4 positions here.

Here's some pictures taken during the deadlift. Clicking on the thumbnails produces the full-sized pictures.

 

	Wimpie was attempting a weight that he hasn't done before. Close.		Martin also battled with the 250kg.
	Nico came very close to locking out the 250kg.		MartinS pulled a solid triple.
	Allan straining on his last rep.		Allan ended up pulling a very decent 6 reps.
	It is obvious that Rory knows his stull on the deadlift with 10 reps.		Eben got 5th overall with 11 reps.
	Future deadlift champ Willem got 13 reps in joint second.		Pieter surprised a lot of people with his 10 reps - including himself!
	Ian was a front runner on 10 reps.		Andre decided to pull sumo and got 10 reps.
	Driko battled on deads which cost him 6 positions.		Johan got 9 reps but was probably aiming higher.
	Stephan got a respectable 9 reps.		Dave looks comfortable on his way to 13 reps without even a belt!
	Malone just before disaster struck on rep 5.		Ettiene, undisputed king of the deadlift.
	I got 13 reps in joint second position.

Click here to go back to event 1: The truck pull

Click here to continue to event 3: The tyre flip

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Page last updated 10 May 2005