Vehicle pull is a signature
Strongman
In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or similar circus performers who performed feats of strength. More recently, strength athletics, also known as strongman competitions, have grown in popularity. These ...
event featured in
World’s Strongest Man and other similar competitions which requires competitors to pull extremely heavy trucks, buses, trains or planes while being attached to a harness that is connected to the vehicle. The heavier the vehicle is, a rope is provided for them to pull on. The person who completes the course in the fastest time or covers the most distance is declared the winner.
History
In 1920s, farmers in
Bowling Green, Missouri
Bowling Green is a city in Pike County, Missouri, United States. The population was 5,334 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Pike County.
History
Bowling Green was settled in 1819, and designated county seat in 1824. Settled chiefly b ...
and
Vaughnsville, Ohio
Vaughnsville ( ) is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community and census-designated place in southern Sugar Creek Township, Putnam County, Ohio, Sugar Creek Township, Putnam County, Ohio, Putnam County, Ohio, United States. It has a po ...
began hitching their field tractors to weighted sleds and roared down a track to see who could pull it the farthest, which gathered a lot of spectators. After the tractor pull was a successful spectators event for many years, there was also an event started called the truck pull which became even more famous and continued until strongman Vehicle pull came into play with the inaugural
World’s Strongest Man in 1977.
In Strongman competitions
Since 1977, Vehicle pulls involving numerous trucks, buses, trains and planes have been used in more than 460 events organized by
World’s Strongest Man,
Europe’s Strongest Man,
Pure Strength
Pure Strength was a strongman competition held from 1987 to 1990 which was created by Tjalling van den Bosch.
Event History
The first year of the event was known as "Pure Strength Challenge" and it was a single man competition featuring only Bil ...
,
Arnold Strongman Classic-Europe,
World's Ultimate Strongman
World's Ultimate Strongman is an annual strength athletics competition which began on October 26, 2018. The event has a number of rival and parallel competitions, including the World's Strongest Man, the Arnold Strongman Classic and the Giants L ...
,
Giants Live
Giants Live was created in 2009 as the official Tour that qualifies strongmen to compete in the annual World's Strongest Man contest. At each Grand Prix, up to twelve international strongmen come together and compete over six events. The top three ...
,
International Federation of Strength Athletes
The International Federation of Strength Athletes (IFSA or IFSA Strongman) was an international governing body for strongman competition. IFSA operated from 1995-2007 and was based in Glasgow, Scotland.
History
Origins
In 1995, David Webster, ...
,
World Strongman Cup Federation,
Strongman Champions League
The Strongman Champions League is a strength athletics, strongman competition circuit, with several Grand Prix events throughout the year and the Strongman Champions League overall champion title going to the overall winner at the end of the s ...
and in several National competitions of
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
,
Netherlands
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,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
,
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
,
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
,
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
and
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
.
In the
World’s Strongest Man competition, the vehicle is often chosen to reference a previous winner or the current host city of the current competition; and the terrains change yearly as well, with vehicles being pulled on snow, ice, sand, concrete etc.
Physical demands
Vehicle pulls are a true test of brute strength and endurance which literally causes the heart rate to hit its maximum within just a few seconds. The start is the hardest as it persuades an extremely heavy vehicle (most often between 10 - 25 tonnes, and up to 40 tonnes) to start moving from a standstill upon overcoming its
inertia. Once the vehicle is moving, it is essential that the strongman continues its
momentum
In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. If is an object's mass an ...
because it is a rare sight to see someone restart pulling the vehicle for a second time once it has stopped. The biggest and heaviest strongmen are usually the people who excel in this event because the heavier the strongman is, the easier is it for them to lean against the weight of the vehicle and get it moving.
Notable Strongmen
Only 8 Strongmen have ever won more than 10 Vehicle pull events in Strongman competitions. With 2 wins per every 3 Vehicle pulls he undertook, Iceland's
Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson is the Greatest Vehicle puller in
Strongman
In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or similar circus performers who performed feats of strength. More recently, strength athletics, also known as strongman competitions, have grown in popularity. These ...
history.
References
{{Reflist
Strongmen competitions