Toughman 2011 (Part III)

18 men entered ....


Only 13 could finish ...


Only 1 could win ...


I must admit, the events were designed to make people tap out.



I wanted the Toughman to live up to its name.

I was actually shocked that we only lost 5 people.

(I guess some of these guys are tougher than I thought.)


Some people who came by to watch the competition said:

  • "It seems like every year you come up with a new twist to make the torture alittle worse."
  • "I can't believe that guys with 6-packs are crumbling to the ground."
  • "I have never seen so many college athletes on their knees."
  • "I felt like less of a man watching this, because I know I could not have finished."

To make matters worse, as one person quit, it would shorten the break time for the following person.

At one point, we had so many people tap out, that one athlete (Andrew Armato) had to go from one event straight into another event.



The Results:
In order to keep this post as short as possible, I am going to list the top 5 people from each event.
All the results will be provided at a link at the bottom of the post.

A full description of each event can be found HERE

50 Yard Reverse Sliders:
At first, this appeared to be the easiest of the four events.
Most athletes started out at rocket speed, but quickly hit a wall at about the 25 yard mark.

In fact, almost every athlete hit 25 yards at about 15 seconds.

Unfortunately, it was the last 25 yards that separated the men from the boys.

If you have never done this, I suggest you try.

At first, you start to breathe heavy.
Then your arms start to get tired.
Then your abs start to give in.

The next thing you know, you have know idea where you are or how much further you have to go.

You push for what seems like an eternity only to find out that you only went 5 more yards.






Only a handful of athletes were able to maintain their pace.
It took over a minute for 8 of the athletes to complete the event.


Top 5: 

  1. S.Mulligan: 35.38 (s)
  2. T. Clohessy: 35.84 (s)
  3. G.Amerosi: 36.15 (s)
  4. C.Perry: 36.41 (s)
  5. A.Armato: 42.80 (s)

225 Sled Race:
To me, this event was the equalizer.

It requires both pulling power and dragging power, in addition to hand dexterity when it comes to changing positions on the chains and unbuckling one of the chains from the sled.

Does unbuckling a chain have anything to do with being strong?

Absolutely not.

But it does show if you can remain calm and focused when you are fatigued and under pressure.




Top 5: 

  1. T. Clohessy: 34.84 (s)
  2. A.Kuyan: 41.19 (s)
  3. D.Heedles: 42.56 (s)
  4. C.Perry: 43.22 (s)
  5. S.Altieri: 50.81 (s)


Sandbags of Death:
This event combines both speed and strength.

While some big guys complain that the smaller guys always win the event, the smaller guys still need to be pretty strong to carry 260lbs of sand 225 yards.





Top 5: 


  1. T. Clohessy: 47.81 (s)
  2. C. Perry: 50.38 (s)
  3. A. Armato: 51.25 (s)
  4. D. Olsen: 51.38 (s)
  5. E. Heedles: 53.54 (s)
100 Yard Prowler Shuttle:
Once again,  The Predator came through...

It disqualified one athlete (because it took him over 3 minutes to complete) and forced four others to tap out.

It took 6 other athletes over 2 minutes to finish.

This is another event where there is a clear and definite wall.

About 85% of our athletes get to:
  •  25 yards at about 8 seconds
  •  50 yards at about 30 seconds
  •  75 yards at about 45 seconds 
It is at the 75 yard mark that most people begin to crumble.

In fact, it took over 50% of the athletes longer to push the prowler the last 25 yards then it did to push it the first 75.

I will make note that two guys completely killed this event.

One was Sean Mulligan, who finished in 74.7 seconds. (This is 41.3 seconds better than his 1:56 second time last year).

The other was Abrom Shepard, who finished in 73.5 seconds. I have never seen someone look more determined to finish something. He actually looked possessed as he crossed the finish line.



Top 5: 


  1. A. Shepard: 73.5 (s)
  2. S. Mulligan: 74.7 (s)
  3. C. Perry: 84.6 (s)
  4. P. Amerosi: 86.1 (s)
  5. R. Mulligan: 87.1 (s)

Overall Winner:
For the third straight time, Teddy Clohessy was the overall winner of the Toughman Competition.


He is truly an elite athlete and an ultimate competitor.
There are times when I do not even believe he is a human being.

Top 5:
  • T. Clohessy: 3:28 (minutes)
  • C. Perry: 3:35 (minutes)
  • S. Mulligan: 3:37 (minutes)
  • D. Heedles: 3:58 (minutes)
  • E. Heedles: 4: 37 (minutes)
Honorable Mention:
  • Chris Perry - Chris finished in the top 5 in all 4 events. (Even Clohessy did not do that)
  • Sean Mulligan - Sean wasted a good ten seconds trying to unbuckle the chain from the sled during the sled race. He only lost by 9 seconds. Do the math.
  • Andrew Armato: Andrew had to go from the Prowler to the 225lb sled race with under 4 minutes of rest. He was in the running to be in the top 5 before that happened.
Purple Heart:
  • Darren Reyes - 3 of the 5 people ahead of him tapped out before his last two events. With little to no time to recover, he had to perform the 225lb sled race. I actually told him to tap out, as I was in fear that he was going to drop dead. He refused my offer. He could hardly stand in the middle of the event. Once again, I told him to tap out. Once again he refused. After a marathon 2 minutes and 24 seconds, he finished the event. I have no idea how he did it, but he did. I am not sure of many other people that would do that (including me)

All the Stats:

As promised, HERE is a link to view all of the times for each event.




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