Midwest Monsters Strongman Competition Set For Saturday In Anna

Rise Performance 618, the area’s newly opened athletic training facility, is planning to host a strongman event at their location in Anna on Saturday, Sept. 4. 

Midwest Monsters is a strongman competition featuring five strength-testing events, sanctioned by United States Strongman. 

Nearly 100 participants from 15 different states have registered to compete in the event, which will include competitions in log clean and press, deadlift medley, yoke carry, keg and sandbag medley, and stone loading series. 

In addition, there may be a history-making performance, with the national record for log clean and press up for grabs at the event. 

According to Rise Performance 618 co-owner Dawson Montfort, strongman competitions vary from other strength-based sports like powerlifting by the use of non-traditional tests of strength. 

“When you watch powerlifting, you can’t really tell the difference between a 600-pound deadlift or a 700-pound deadlift just by looking,” said Montfort. 

“In strongman, picking up a stone or pulling a truck, carrying a yoke, throwing hay bales, you can see it and relate to the significance of the strength of the competitor easier than just watching iron plates being lifted.”

Being a sanctioned event, athletes finishing in the top three will be qualified for the U.S. national competition in 2022. 

The owner of United States Strongman will be at Midwest Monsters to judge the competition, along with two Illinois representatives. 

The competition is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. and run until 4 p.m. Tickets for the event will be $5. StarView Vineyards will be serving (ID required for a purchase), along with food trucks from the region.