Donald
Teuma-Castelletti
FORT COULONGE
Aug. 26, 2017
A strongman competition was held at the Centre de Loisirs des Draveurs in Fort Coulonge, but besides the professionals scheduled for the afternoon, no local strong men and women were to be seen.
Set to run from 9 a.m. till 5 p.m. on Saturday, the morning events were supposed to feature locals entering to show off their feats of strength in powerlifting competitions. Yet the show didn’t get started until the afternoon when the trained pros – the four men as bulked up as mountains – took over.

“Unfortunately, not having an MRC community event calendar, the organizers end up making their activities at the same time,” said event coordinator Gaétan Graveline.
Graveline cited the abundance of events planned for Saturday as the reason for a small crowd attending the competition.
Not only were there a lack of locals looking to participate, but a small crowd came out to check it out.
Having prepared to hold 250 people in the arena, about a fifth of that were present for the show.
Despite the small numbers, the afternoon show of titans brought much excitement and awesome feats, entertaining especially to the children in the audience. Many kids had trouble holding their excitement in as they jumped about and watched anxiously, especially while the men pulled a dump truck across the arena.
The team of four, comprised of Ben Ruckstuhl, Karl Hjelholt, Taylor Wilson and Brendan Wood, started the afternoon by dragging the truck before deadlifting weights in excess of 300 lbs. Other planned events for the day included tire-flipping, car-lifting and the farmer’s walk.
The strongman competition was a popular event in the ‘70s in Fort Coulonge, but the area hasn’t seen the event since then. Graveline, as president of the leisure centre, decided it was time to bring it back in honour of Canada 150, the arena’s 50th anniversary and in memorial of Lucien Ladouceur, one of the organizers of the past event.
Despite the low turnout for the day, there was one event that got the crowd involved and breaking a sweat. When the Raftman’s Wheelbarrow came out, folks couldn’t resist the chance to show off. Originally a part of the ‘70s competitions, people lift the barrow and walk it across a distance of about 20 feet, with a heavy plate thrown on every turn.
“Pierre Laporte personally purchased it, in the hopes that it would come back to the Pontiac,” said Graveline.
“These guys are more about a show,” said Laporte, pointing towards the four powerlifters. “The ‘barrow was meant to give everyone a chance at competition.”