The most powerful men and women in Wales got together on Sunday to battle it out for the chance to be crowned the strongest in the country.
Wales' Strongest Man and Wales' Strongest Woman took place amid sweltering conditions at the Cardiff International Sports Stadium on Sunday, July 17, with a packed field of competitors from all across Wales competing over several gruelling events.
In the men's category, a 12-man field competed across five events, including truck pulling, a dumbbell press, sandbag shouldering, tyre flipping and stone lifting.
Read more: Thousands of calories and endless exercise - what it takes to be one of the world's strongest people
David Ramplee, from Powys, was crowned the winner on this occasion, after winning two out of the five events, completing a 20m truck pull in 50.15 seconds, just ahead of his nearest rival Desmond Gahan (51.93s). Ramplee also completed seven reps in the 130kg sandbag shouldering, placing him ahead of Mark Jeanes and Luke Sperduti in joint-second, who both completed six reps.
Overall, Ramplee finished tied on points with Gwent's Sperduti, a former soldier turned Amazon warehouse worker. But the contest was settled in Ramplee's favour on account of the fact he won more events.
Ramplee, who earns his living at a local saw mill in Newbridge, has only been competing for the last five years, and admits his path into the strongman scene was a little unorthodox.
"I've only really been taking things seriously the last three years," he told WalesOnline. "I sort of got into it as a bet. I was in the gym and [a man] was doing strongman and he said 'I bet I could beat you'. I said 'I bet you can't'. We turned up and I beat him. That's how it started."
With a national title under his belt, Ramplee now has his eye on reaching the very top. "I competed in the UK Championship earlier this year and came fifth, which was pretty good," he said. "Hopefully in three or four years, I can get to the worlds. That would be the dream."
Meanwhile, in the women's contest, world champion Rebecca Roberts reclaimed her Welsh title, finishing first in every single one of the five events.
Speaking afterwards, she told WalesOnline: "To be honest, I've not really trained for this competition because it's one of the smaller ones on my personal calendar.
"I'm the current World's Strongest Woman so the world championships will be getting the dedicated training. I'm treating this like a training session and a session to give more PR to the sport and hopefully bring more fans out to the shows."
Should her step up in training allow her to replicate even a fraction of the sort of form seen here, the Bangor native surely has a great chance of retaining her world title.
Wales' Strongest Man 2022 results in full:
1. David Ramplee - 49.5
2. Luke Sperduti - 49.5
3. Mark Jeanes - 47
4. Garret Cann - 43.5
5. Desmond Gahan - 40.5
6. Matt Dimond - 38
7. Ben Pascoe - 25
8. Simon Hamett - 20.5
9. Josh Edwards - 20
10. William Jones 11.5
11. Nathan Young - 8.5
12. Aaron Moon - 5.5
Wales' Strongest Woman 2022 results in full:
1. Rebecca Roberts - 39.5
2. Claire Myler - 35.5
3. Sam Taylor - 28.5
4. Jade Presley - 18.5
5. Sarah Jayne Wells - 13.5
6. Anwen Jenkins -12.5
7. Mel Smith - 12
8. Kelly Proctor - 4
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