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Cristian Candemir is set to compete in his fourth Strongman National Championship.
The 2012 East Hampton High School graduate is heading to Las Vegas for the two-day event that begins this Friday, September 12, and ends the following day, all at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino. Candemir, 30, will continue to compete in the 90KG class, and while winning or getting on the podium have been his goals at previous championships, he said he’ll just be happy to be there this time around.
“I’m not going for a pro card or looking to get on the podium. It’s simply to capitalize on a great opportunity and to do what I love, and to take advantage of the timing. I had already been training, so I feel like I’m in great shape. I’m very, very, very surprised, happy and satisfied with how my competitive career has gone. Like I’ve said before, I feel like I’ve already achieved lifetime goals in Strongman and so I’ll compete and then look to move onward.”
Odd object loading is the name of the game in Strongmans and that will only continue this week for Candemir. There will be six events spread out across the two-day championship. The first day will include a “max overhead press off blocks,” a deadlift medley and a “hoist.” Day two will consist of a “ScrapMasters Circus Dumbbell for Reps,” a “frame carry for max distance” and then finally a “Build Fast Formula Keg Over Bar for Reps,” which Candemir said he’s looking forward to the most.
In that event, competitors will be tasked with loading a keg over a bar as many times as possible in 60 seconds.
“That has been my focus all along in my training,” he said. “In all of my training and competitions, I’ve found that I’m kind of built for lifting odd objects, like kegs, so I’m most looking forward to carrying and finishing the keg.”
Last year, Candemir started to get into stone lifting, which has become wildly popular among not just Strongman competitors but body builders and the like. He traveled to Iceland where he achieved Fullsterker, or “Full Strength” status, when he picked up and carried a Húsafell Stone 35 meters (115 feet) around a sheep pen without putting it down.
Stone lifting has long been a feat throughout many cultures in the world, and the thought of combining travel and lifting intrigues Candemir, to the point where he sees himself going in that direction following this week’s competition.
“I do want to start crossing off the many historic lifting stones,” he said. “I may be setting world records at my size, I don’t even know, but these have become almost like bucket list goals.”
Candemir has set his sights on a few different stones. One is the Dinnie Stones of Scotland, which are a pair of lifting stones located in Potarch, Aberdeenshire. They were made famous by strongman Donald Dinnie, who reportedly carried the stones barehanded across the width of the Potarch Bridge, a distance of 17 ½ feet, in 1860.
“Las Vegas might be my sendoff while I focus the next 10 years or so on these lifting stones,” Candemir said. “They are all over — Tibet, Japan — and I keep finding out about more and more. There is a whole YouTube culture of these lifting stones that predate Strongman, and for me, I find it greater to achieve these goals and that they hold more value than competing in or hosting a competition. Many of these stones hold remarkable history, and if I can capitalize on my ventures and travel the world, albeit while enjoying the process and having consistent goals to look forward to, then so be it.”
“The World’s Strongest Barista,” as he’s known on Instagram, which harkens back to his full-time job as a Starbucks barista, said that competing in Strongman gave him a renewed sense of purpose at a time in his life prior to turning 30 that was so up and down. He said he’ll never forget what Strongman did for him, but he does feel like it may be time to move on, at least for the foreseeable future, following this week’s competition.
“Competing in Strongman has been arguably one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life,” he said. “It may have even saved my life when I first started. When things felt like they were in turmoil, Strongman was a constant, it was my glue. It’s almost too complicated to explain, but from growing up out here as a theater kid, to going 720 degrees, I always describe it as a movie I’m experiencing first hand and each time it feels like such a novel experience or a second go at life.”
