Athletes compete for spot in World Heavy Events championships in Paradise

Fall event to be held for first time outside Europe

The World Heavy Events Association (WHEA) is hosting the world strongman and strongwoman championships outside of Europe for the first time ever this September — and it’s all happening in Paradise.

On Saturday, athletes aged 19 to over 50 competed to qualify for that event at the Newfoundland and Labrador Strongest 2026 competition, also in Paradise.

“We've got lots of support, we've got lots of volunteers and it's an exciting time,” said organizer and coach Kyle Mahoney.

The strongman sport tests physical strength and endurance through unique heavy lifting events.

“It measures all facets of strength, pressing, deadlifting, squatting, loading, carrying. We pull trucks, we flip tires, we lift stones, pretty much anything you can think of,” Mahoney said.

Competitor Lisa Sheppard told CBC News she enjoys testing her strength and getting stronger through the sport.

"At WHEA worlds last year I was amazed with myself, I got third. So that was really cool," she said.

Saturday’s competition included circus dumbbell, tire flips and farmer’s carry, which involves running 120 feet with 200 pounds in each hand.

“The cool thing about the sport is it's just lifting really weird heavy things,” Sheppard said.

She said she's excited the world championships will be hosted in her home province this fall.

“That's really cool for us to be able to have it here. They seem really excited about bringing athletes here and about how cool Paradise is,” she said.

Sheppard’s daughter, Marie Sheppard, competed for the first time on Saturday.

She said she wanted to try the strongwoman sport as a way to stay active after high school.

“One thing that I find in common between swimming and this, is that it's more about, like, your own personal goals,” she said.

“I just got a personal best today of 200 [pounds], which is really cool because I only weigh 140 pounds.”

Mahoney said there seems to be a growing interest in the sport from all ages, and the majority of his clients are women.

“We have a lot of strong women here, no pun intended,” he said.

“The community speaks for itself. They're all very, very great people and I'm very privileged to hold these events for them and to call them my friends, athletes and competitors."

The WHEA strongman and strongwoman championships are scheduled for Sept. 26 and 27 at the Paradise community centre.

Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here. Click here to visit our landing page.

Abby Cole is a journalist with CBC News in St. John's. She can be reached at abby.cole@cbc.ca.