Apollons Lift
by Al Myers
Thom Van Vleck, of the JWC, training on his 245# Apollon Wheel Replica.
It’s about time I start highlighting the rules of the events that I plan on having in the Dino Gym Challenge on January 15th, the VERY FIRST strongman competition sanctioned by the USAWA. Again – this strongman comp will be quite different than modern traditional strongman comps as this one will be based on feats of strength performed by OLD TIME STRONGMEN. The first event that I am going to profile is the APOLLON’S LIFT. This event is based on the old-time strongman Louis Uni, aka Apollon. He made famous the Apollon’s Wheels – a 2″ axle connecting two railway car wheels. The entire apparatus weighed in at 366 pounds! David Willoughby made this feat well-known when in his book, The Super Athletes, he listed it as one of the “Five famous weights and the men who lifted them.” Well, I don’t expect anyone to lift a replica of the original 366# Apollon’s Wheels so we will use a lighter set-up. I do expect this event to be held to the basic dimensions of the original Apollon Wheels so a 2″ axle will be used and a higher bar height will be allowed (since the diameter of the original AW was 26 inches). The rules for this lift will be very liberal since the object of this strongman feat is to “get it overhead in any fashion”.
The Rules for the Apollon’s Lift:
A 2 inch diameter axle (or Fulton Bar) will be used as the bar for this lift. The maximum starting bar height is 12 inches measured from the platform to the bottom of the bar. Any method may be used to take the bar to the shoulders or overhead. The bar or plates are allowed to retouch the platform during the lift. If the bar is placed down or dropped, the lifter may try again as many times as he/she wants within the time limit. A time limit of 1 minute is allowed. Once the weight is overhead, with arms’ locked, legs straight, and the feet in line with the torso, an official will give the command to end the lift.
All other general rules of the USAWA will apply. Each competitor will get three attempts of their choosing with the best one counting towards their total.