Okehampton’s first-ever strongman team recently won Honiton’s Strongest Man title in their debut appearance, beating well-established teams for the top spot.

Fitness centre Pure Recovery and Strength’s five member strongman team beat the odds to win two of three challenges at Honiton’s Strongest Man competition, held at fitness centre Nordic Gym Honiton.

Strongman team member Chris Knott took home the winner of Honiton’s Strongest Man award while his teammate Buster Francis won the men’s under 90kg challenge.

Mr Knott, one of the founders of the group, said: ‘We are a brand new business in Okehampton. We are only in our ninth week and when we entered this competition four out of five of us had never done anything like this.

‘We won Honiton’s Strongest Man and Honiton’s Strongest Man under 90kg. It was a really proud moment as there were quite a lot of well-established teams there, like Plymouth’s.

‘All of the other Okehampton participants have done extremely well and got their personal bests which is a huge achievement.

It’s not easy to get up there and perform.’

The event, which took place at the end of April, included weightlifting, a log lift, yoke run and Hercules hold in four different categories including first timers group and the open weight competition, where there is no cap on the weight of the participant.

Mr Knott helped to found Okehampton’s group in order to break the stereotype of a strongman as a muscular man and show people that women and slighter men can still take part in the sport.

He said: ‘Everyone can be strong and it’s different for everyone. We are just all inclusive.’

Okehampton’s strongman team already includes strongwoman Sharon Thomson and, in the nine weeks since its opening, the club has attracted a core of interested Okehampton residents, which is continuing to grow.

At a recent mini competition organised by Pure Recovery and Strength, Mr Knott counted 17 attendees from the Okehampton area, including six women.

The club train using a range of makeshift equipment including yokes instead of traditional weights to add interest.

Mr Knott added that he had not yet had anyone who was unable to complete the set challenges after some training.

The team have now added to their number and are currently training for their next competition in three weeks’ time, which will be a first for some of the new members.

For more information visit the website at www.purerecoveryandstrength.co.uk.