From Marathon Runner to World-Class Strongman

I know what you’re thinking… and it’s the question I get asked more than any other: “How on earth did you go from running marathons to strongman?” The answer is pretty simple. Let’s backtrack...

From an early age, I showed signs of athletic potential. I remember signing up for the kids’ race (U14) at a local fun run in Adderbury, my home village. On the day, we found out I was the only one who had signed up, and back then, the rules were a little looser than they are now… so what did we do? We entered me into the men’s 10K race, and I did pretty well!

From that day on, I fell in love with pushing myself, and that manifested itself in long-distance running. Despite being extremely athletic and feeling like I could always run faster, run for longer and jump higher than my peers, I never took to PE. I was a very shy kid, so the thought of team sports terrified me. I also hated the notion of relying on others for a good performance. I wanted to be responsible for my own results.

Fast forward eight years and over 100 long-distance races and track meets, and I was now leading the Athletics Club at the University of Portsmouth. I was taking part in national track and cross-country races, as well as dabbling in various other athletic disciplines along the way.

In my first year at uni, I moved into a house with two guys who went to the gym very frequently. I’m pleased to say they’re still very close friends to this day. Being 6’4” and 68kg at the time, I finally let them convince me to start going to the gym with them. I told myself that building a bit more muscle would help my running career.

Naturally, the gym became an addiction. I was hooked on the rapid progress I was seeing: getting visibly bigger and stronger each week, with the weight on the scales beginning to creep up. I found myself feeling far more confident. I began enjoying the gym training more than the running, which I was still juggling alongside it all (while also trying to get a degree!)

Eventually, the gym took priority. I was getting heavier and bigger, but, as a result, slower. I decided to hang up the running shoes in 2019, after completing a double marathon, whilst weighing approximately 90kg. It was also the year I left uni and moved back to Banbury, where I joined a local gym and met Steve Wilkinson, or Back Slap Steve as I know him.

Steve was a huge role model for me when I began training. He’s not a big dude. He competed in the U80kg class, where he dominated the natural scene and competed against the best in untested competitions too. Steve taught me to work hard in the gym and introduced me to strongman movements such as farmer’s walks, Atlas stones and an incredibly sketchy Conan’s wheel setup. Don’t ask!

I took to the moving events like a duck to water. I was fast, athletic and agile, but my static strength had a long way to go. That year, I pulled my first 300kg deadlift at just over three times my bodyweight, hit a whopping 120kg log press and began working towards the UK’s Strongest Junior qualifier—a competition I had zero expectations going into. I took third place and met Laurence Shahlaei, who agreed to coach me for the next two years.

And that was that—that’s the story of how a lanky, long-distance runner became a strongman! I’ll definitely do a part two covering 2021–2026, but that’s how I found myself in the right place at the right time and discovered an incredible sport.

Thank you for supporting this crazy journey! You can join the team here!