At the All Valley Strongman Championship 3, held on 03/09/2024, Thirty athletes came to West Chester, PA in their finest headbands and 80s gear to contend for the title of All Valley Strongman Champion! The competition, now in its third year, was promoted by Katie Feeley and Power Plant Gym. The Event was held at Gage Strength Training in West Chester, PA indoors. 

Events included axle clean & press away, fatback farmer carry, keg carry & arm-over-arm sled medley, stone over bar for reps, and head-to-head Cerberus Dinnie Pin hold for max time. 

Highlights included an exciting battle in the Women’s Novice HW division with Mary Weaver, Jaime Becker, and Gabriella Romano trading places on the podium after every event. Novice u140 athlete Pat Malone had the longest Dinnie hold of the day with an impressive 1:13.12. The Women’s Open division saw a triumphant return to strong(wo)man competition by veteran athlete Kelly Plush, and a super impressive performance by Sandy Caruco, who typically competes in Masters u140 but stepped it up to compete with the Open ladies and landed herself a podium spot!

On the guys’ side, Joe Milano, Joe Switzer, Gordon Jaquith, and Larry Sbei III put on a heck of a close show in the u200 class, with the win and Nationals bid going to Milano. A stacked u231 class also saw quite a few placement shifts throughout the day. At the end, Sean Dougherty (1^st) and Cameron Gilmore (2^nd) punched their tickets to Nationals, and Gabe Balascio rounded out the podium. In the Men’s Open class, u265 athlete Brendan Todd landed atop the podium to secure his bid to Nationals. 

The biggest cheer of the day came for first-time competitor Carl Gunlefinger in the Novice u200 class when he loaded a gutsy PR 204lbs stone for the first time in front of a crazy supportive crowd – that’s what strongman is all about!

This is the 3^rd year for All Valley Strongman Championship and our next event is Beer Muscles 8 that will be held on 08/24/2024; Beer Muscles.

Thanks to Shera Chase for making the trophies, which were custom All Valley Strongman Championship headbands for all the podium finishers – they looked amazing!

View Final Results

Thanks to Jason from Ringside Radar for coming out with a livestream setup to see what strongman is all about and work on getting quality livestreams running for our crazy sport. You can reach Jason at ringside.radar@gmail.com.

Photography by Power Plant Gym and Samantha Fox