A STRONGMAN competition was held in the North-East over the Easter weekend.

Nineteen men under 90kg, or 14-and-a-half stones, pitted themselves against each other at Spartan Performance gym in Consett, County Durham.

They towed an eight tonne truck, flipped a 350kg tyre, dragged a 240kg sled and deadlifted 200kg and pressed 95kg.

The overall winner was Pawel Olszewski, 27, who lives in Consett, but is originally from Poland.

Organiser and host was Britain’s natural strongest man Jack Lovett,who owns the gym.

Mr Lovett, 28, said: "It was pretty intense as there were some massively strong guys there.

"People associate strong guys with big guys, monsters, but these guys were under 90 kg and it is unreal.

"Some competitors were under 75kg so they were not huge but in terms of strength it was pretty inspiring.

"It is the first competition of that stature that we have held and I am very proud to be associated with it."

Over 400 people attended the gym on Saturday to watch the regional qualifier.

It was organised with Elite Strongman Promotions and the top five competitors now go through to the final of the national competition of England’s Strongest man Under 90kg.