Jack Shanks and his Stones
By Al Myers
One of the great highlights for me attending the IAWA Gold Cup in Belfast was getting to meet Jack Shanks. Jack is “Stevie’s Father” and the person who has inspired many of us to take on the Dinnie Stone Challenge. Jack is an extraordinary man and it was an honor getting to meet him.
Jack Shanks talking to the lifters at the 2021 IAWA Gold Cup prior to the Shanks Lift Challenge
After the completion of the meet Stevie had arranged for a special contest for lifters to challenge themselves in the Shanks Lift. The Shanks Lift is a fairly new IAWA lift named in the honor of Jack Shanks. Two years ago when it was approved Stevie performed an exhibition of it at the 2019 IAWA World Championships that I hosted in Abilene, KS in which he lifted an amazing total of 330 kilograms making Stevie the first person to set a record in the Shanks Lift. At Belfast, seven lifters took part in the Shanks Challenge under the watchful eye of Jack. There was some great lifting, with Paul Barette winning the event, followed by Steve Andrews in second and Gary Ell in third. Before the contest commenced Jack gave a presentation of how he trained to be the first person to correctly lift the Dinnie Stones 50 years ago (1972). No one had been successful with Donald Dinnie’s challenge to lift the stones in the previous 100 years! It was a very interesting presentation to me (and one I wish was recorded so I could listen to it again) as Jack was very meticulous in his training plan. He had rings made to match the rings of the Dinnie Stones and even attached them to training stones so he could progressively advance his training poundages. The talk ended by him recalling the day he lifted the actual Dinnie Stones in front of a large audience at a publicized event. I’m sure he was very anxious at the time to accomplish something he had put a lot of work into!
A few days after the Gold Cup Stevie took me to his parents’ house and I got to sit down with Jack and enjoy a nice visit with him over a cup of coffee and biscuits. He still lifts to stay in good shape and showed me his personal gym in his garage which contained weight equipment that’s museum worthy. I was privileged to see his training stones which he still has in his back yard. They have shown the wear of years in the elements but still quite impressive in size and shape. The total weight of his training stones are over 800 pounds! Jack told me he was pretty confidant after lifting his own stones that he could lift the Dinnie Stones. I want to point out that the first time he seen the Dinnie Stones was when he lifted them!
Jack Shanks and his training stones. Pictured left to right: Stevie Shanks, Al Myers, and Jack Shanks.
It was a great honor for me to be part of all of this. Now onto some good news – next year the Gold Cup will AGAIN be in Belfast and everything is planned to make it BIGGER and BETTER than this year. Stevie is hoping to get more lifters involved in the Shanks Lift Challenge, and Jack will be there to oversee things once again. I encourage all lifters to put this event on your personal meet calendar!