Williams Lake’s Tyson Delay is ready to sink his teeth into more national strongman competition next week when he attends the CAASA National Championships in Regina, Sask.
Taking place on Oct. 5, Delay, 25, will be up against some of the biggest and most beastly amateur strongmen the nation has to offer when he competes in the 231-pound division at the championships against athletes he said will likely be much heavier than himself.
“Training has been going surprisingly well,” said Delay, but noted he’ll need to bring his ‘A’ game to slug it out with the top strongmen at the meet.
“I’ll definitely make them work a little bit.”
Delay noted the national championship is an untested meet, which immediately puts him at a disadvantage due to training naturally. Delay said most of the competitors will be cutting weight down to 231 from their actual weights of roughly 250 to 260 pounds.
READ MORE: Delay powers way to strongman nationals
“My recovery time after training sessions is about twice as long,” he said. “The extra testosterone, or steroids or whatever, it forces your body to utilize the food you’re eating more efficiently. It’d be like the muscle difference between a bull and a steer. It’s humongous because of the testosterone — the hormone that boosts that.”
Despite that, Delay plans to give it 110 per cent and will, hopefully, compete in five events should he crack the top eight athletes following the first four events at nationals.
“The fifth and final event will be a 330-pound stone over a 56-inch bar,” he said. “It’s roughly where my mouth is. I’m not a tall guy, so I’m going to be lucky if I get one rep on that one. Hopefully I can crack the top eight.”
In Delay’s weight class 20 athletes will be competing.
“There’s no limit for lightest but the heaviest they can be is 231 pounds,” he said. “It’s definitely going to be high calibre competition and I’m looking forward to testing myself and my body. I put on weight over the winter and I’ve been trying to gain weight over the summer and I’m the biggest I’ve ever been, the heaviest I’ve ever been, I’m eating more than I thought I could eat, but it’s been a big consistency game. I’m naturally 140 pounds.”
He said he’s proud and excited of his journey in the world of strongman to date and lifting weight he never thought possible.
“I credit excellent coaching, work ethic my parents pounded into me on the farm — I’m proud of that — because I’m not naturally gifted,” he said. “I know I’m going to get my butt kicked because there are so many guys there that have so much experience — guys who have been doing this for 20 years, but they can teach me a lot about it, and recovery.
“At the end of the day I’m just going out there to do my best and if I can kick some [butt] along the way that’s just awesome. My main goal is to go out and do my best.”
If anyone would be interested in sponsoring his trip to Regina and the nationals they can contact Delay at tysonrdelay@gmail.com.
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