Thursday, May 2, 2024
Former 2014 Gatesville High School graduate Chase McGhee recently competed in The Official Strongman Games World Finals.
The Official Strongman Games is a festival of strength that brings together hundreds of the top Strongman and Strongwoman athletes from over 30 countries. The athletes compete for the world’s strongest title across multiple divisions.
While attending high school, McGhee broke regional, state, and national powerlifting records during his senior year, as well as ending his powerlifting career as a state champion.
During the weekend of Friday, Dec. 1 through Sunday, Dec. 3, many of the strongest men from around the world traveled to Charleston, West Virginia to compete in the Official Strongman Games World Finals in hopes to become the world’s strongest man.
“I have always been a fan of strength, and powerlifting was the first sport I was able to actually compete in strength-wise, so the passion was always there since I can remember,” McGhee said. “I have pictures of me picking up semi-heavy things all the way back to when I was two, but powerlifting started for me in high school.”
Following graduation, McGhee attended the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (UMHB) on a full academic scholarship and graduated with honors receiving a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.
He continued powerlifting with different organizations where he continued to break state and national records.
He later became bored with the same repetitive lifts, so he began training and competing in local strongman competitions, where he made his mark and fell in love with the sport.
“I first got interested in strongman much later in my strength career,” McGhee said. He had been powerlifting for nearly 11 years and began searching for something more challenging and unique.
“I went to a gym with some atlas stones and tried to pick one up but couldn't budge it, and I thought, woah that's hard, I'm going to figure that out,” McGhee said.
McGhee admitted that staying strong and in shape for his sport requires consistency, which means his training includes lifting four to five times a week, anywhere from two to three hours a session depending on the type of implement.
“The base of my training consists of a form of overhead press, an upper back day, legs, movement days, and deadlift days,” McGhee said.
“To be totally honest, nothing about the sport of strongman or any competitive sport is safe or healthy,” McGhee said. “Health comes with being active and strong, but the sport has the potential to be incredibly dangerous at any moment.”
After years of training, on Aug. 20, McGhee competed in the Official Strongman Games Southwest Regional, where he won the chance to compete in the Worlds Official Strongman Games.
With hopes of placing in the top three, McGhee walked away with the gold.
“The feeling was something I had never really felt before, because this was at the time the heaviest and hardest show I had ever done,” McGhee said. “It was really hard juggling time since I am a husband and a father. I had to make sure that I put both my wife and baby first and then pour anything else I had left into training.”
“To come out on top meant that all the sacrifices my family made for me weren’t wasted,” McGhee said.
When the time came to travel to West Virginia to compete in the world finals, McGhee went prepared and ready to compete.
The Official Strongman Games World Finals is arranged for three days of competition. During the first and second day, the athletes will compete, and when day three arrives, only the top 10 will stay.
“Day one was an overhead press medley that consisted of a wagon wheel barbell press at 265 pounds, a one arm circus dumbbell press at 171 pounds, an anchor yoke press of 302 pounds, and a block press at 245 pounds,” McGhee said. “The goal was to press them all in order the fastest.”
“The next event was a 670-pound timber frame carry into a dinnie stone carry, while one stone weighed 265 pounds and the other weighed 215 pounds,” McGhee said. “The goal is to carry them as fast as possible with as little drops as possible.”
“Day two was a deadlift ladder with five bars ranging from 585 to 740 pounds,” McGhee said. “The next event was a sandbag carry and sled drag, with one sandbag weighing 250 pounds, and the other bag weighing 300 pounds.”
Every competition was completed with a 90-pound ruck pack on each athlete’s back.
McGhee placed 29th overall out of 40 men.
“I finished the 670-pound frame carry and carried the dinnies seven feet before the time ran out,” McGhee said. “I got two bars on the deadlift ladder, and on the sandbag carry race I loaded the 250-pound sandbag and carried the 300-pound sandbag halfway down the course before the time ran out.”
“I gained a lot of confidence in myself,” McGhee said. “I am typically very anxious going into competitions because I want to perform at the top.”
“At the current time in my strongman career, I was very unlikely to place extremely high, much less win, so I was forced to focus on myself and not worry about winning because I didn't really have a chance at it,” McGhee said. “I feel that it gave me an awesome understanding of what I'm capable of and helped me to have more fun when I compete.”
“At the end of the day, I was disappointed in a few things, but these are the 40 strongest upper 90 men on the planet, so I am happy and humbled to be in the mix with the outcome I got,” McGhee said.
