A food truck, aerial yoga, and a strong competitive spirit was all a part of the second annual AZ Beer Bullies that was hosted once again at Phoenix’s Liberty Performance Training.

In all, there were 29 competitors spread out between the men’s lightweight, middleweight, and heavyweight divisions and the women’s lightweight division and all were open divisions as over 150 spectators attended.

“I want this to be Arizona’s premier Strongman event and I think we are on our way,” Liberty Performance Training Owner and Head Trainer Rich Mulder said. “We attract a diverse group of athletes; from first-timers to those who use to have their pro cards, to veterans of the amateur circuit. I want that aspect of Beer Bullies to remain. Whether it is the first time or the 15th, we want to encourage people to give it a shot.”

In the men’s heavyweight division, Roy Orrantia looked shard in earning first-place honors. Orrantia outperformed Gary Loyd and Hubert Wojnar.

Middleweight men’s was the tightest division on the day as 7.5 points were the difference between the top three competitors. Dillon Jenkins took first place by 4.5 points over Ryan Ratkowski. Just three points separated Ratkowski from Cody Crispe, who placed third.

Justin Cox earned first place in men’s lightweight in a close contest with Robert Biggs. Michael Alcott placed third.

In the women’s lightweight division, Anitra Sopronyl cruised to victory. Sandy Caruco edged Danielle Yox by a point to claim second place.

“Anitra was the only person to sweep every event. She rocked it,” Mulder said. “Roy won every event, except for tying in the Stones. He pulled a 700-pound deadlift with plenty of gas in the tank. He crushed it.”

Another one of the highlights of the day was part of the Overhead Press medley. Only the men’s lightweight and heavyweight were able to hoist the bulging, two-foot long circus dumbbell. For the lightweights, the dumbbell was 107-pounds and for the heavyweights, it was 187-pounds.

“I told the competitors that the heavy events were meant to be heavy and fast events were meant to be fast,” Mulder said. “We have tossed around the idea of doing a team event but I’m not sure if we will do another event this year. We received a lot of really good feedback. I do prefer quality over quantity and Beer Bullies will absolutely be back next February.”

– By Brett Auten