Sean Hayes is one strong dude.
Credit: Sean Hayes / Facebook
The Courtney athlete just placed third in his first-ever professional strongman competition. He spent the weekend lifting heavy stuff at Canada’s Strongest Man competition in Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, Quebec.
He won third place while sick. He was so amped after the first day of competition that he could hardly eat or sleep. Yet, Sean powered through day two on nothing but a pancake.
And he had injuries. On day two, he tore one of his quads. Then on the third day of competition, he dropped a 365-pound weight on his foot.
Even with all this, he still beat 14 other extremely strong men.
Hayes’ favourite event was the deadlift.
“I went in kind of expecting to win the deadlift; I know I am good at it,” he told the Comox Valley Record. “It was a car deadlift. So they park an SUV on this frame, and you lift it by the frame. It was about 800 pounds, and I got 10 reps in.”
Let’s wind that back — he did 10 reps of 800 pounds. He deadlifted a car. And no one else got more than 8 reps in.
That’s some superhero stuff. Like “Timmy got stuck under the bus, and Superman needs to swoop in and save him” stuff.
Despite this incredible superhero move, Hayes isn’t super satisfied with his performance. Instead, he hopes to use this competition as a learning experience.
Credit: Sean Hayes / Facebook
“I’m not extremely happy with most events and know I should’ve done better, which makes third all the more surprising,” he said. Still, he hopes to come back next year and push for better.
Last year Sean won the heavyweight division at Strongman Nationals as an amateur, finishing well ahead of his 20-plus competitors. That victory is what earned Sean his invitation to the professional event this year.
We can tell you, Sean, we’re impressed. And we’ll be watching how far you can go next year.
