source : http://www.newsabahtimes.com.my/nstweb/fullstory/47498
KOTA KINABALU: The race in the Orang Kuat Sabah (Sabah’s Strongest Man) Challenge 2011 crown is as good as a battle between the men from Kudat and the Singaporeans.
After Day 1 of the challenge yesterday at the Star City North where the event is organised by Casero Events and City Hall as co-organiser, the top five places were dominated by these athletes from Kudat and Lion City.
Kudat’s Alfred Magabis has a slender lead after accumulating a total of 22 points while another Kudat man Nazri Zitol and Singapore’s Ahmad Taufiq are joint-second with 20 points each.
Sulaiman Ismail, also from Singapore, is in third with 19 points followed by Kudat’s Honesty Ahandoi in fourth with 17 points while another Singaporean Yasir Alamkky fifth on 14 points.
If the first day of action is of any indication, then any one of these athletes will be crowned as Orang Kuat Sabah 2011 champ today.
Whatever it is, it is going to be an interesting and an exciting day for all the 18 competitors, although the top athletes have the edge after a positive outing.
However the race for the crown is still wide open. It was a tough, a very tough challenge as they were tested to their limits especially in the Truck Pull challenge where at the end of the day none of them managed to move the 10-ton dump truck that was filled with two tons of stones.
So it was zero points for all the competitors in this category after the failed bid.
That first failed attempt did not deter anyone as action continued with the Farmer’s Walk where each were required to carry two objects, each weighing 100kg and walk a distance of 20 metres.
After unsuccessfully collecting any points in the first challenge Alfred went on to win the second challenge, the Farmer’s Walk, clocking the fastest time of 18.60 seconds to eventually earn him 12 points.
Nazri finished second with 19.02 seconds followed by Honesty in third, 19.52 seconds.
Then in the final challenge of the day he managed to make the compulsory 10 flips in a time of 32.74seconds in the Tyre Flip challenge.
However it was the visiting Singapore athlete Sulaiman Ismail who won the Tyre Flip challenge after completing 10 flips in 30.22seconds followed by his countryman Ahmad Taufiq with a recorded a time of 30.82s. Ahmad is Singapore’s 2005 Strongest Man Challenge champ.
There will be another three challenges today. The first will be the Car Deadlift followed by Yoke Walk and Atlas Stone.
Mayor Datuk Abidin Madingkir was there to grace the opening yesterday. Casero Events, the organiser, patron Datuk Johnny Mositun, Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister Datuk Radin Malleh and CEO AC Property Development Sdn Bhd Datuk Dr Ting Ing Chew were also present.