An Aberdeen strongman has been crowned Britain’s Strongest Stone Lifter for 2024.
John Gibb claimed the title in a thrilling showdown on Sunday, marking a triumphant moment after four years of dedicated training.
Following his success in the Scottish qualifiers, the 38-year-old faced competition from top UK lifters, as well as a guest competitor from France, at the event held at Boreland Farm near Loch Tay.
Complicating matters was Storm Ashley, as the outdoor competition unfolded from 10am to 5.30pm.
Despite the challenging weather, John – who became the 157th person to lift the legendary Dinnie Stones – never dropped below third place in the rankings throughout the five events.
John said: “It was a lot of hard work. The body was feeling it on Monday and Tuesday!”
Aberdeen stone lifter does brother proud
John’s late brother, Norman, has been his biggest inspiration during his stone lifting journey that he started four years ago.
“It started as a New Years resolution,” he explained.
“My brother had always been obsessed with the Dinnie Stones. He sadly passed away in a car crash and, as it approached 20 years since he died, I decided I would try and lift them in his memory.
“The day that I lifted them was really emotional.”
Lifting the stones set John on a path to become a strongman, a feat he has always had the support of his family with – wife Vikki, 41, and sons Amos, 18, Manny, 16, Lawson, 5, and Ellis, 3.
John said: “I always just want to make my family proud, I couldn’t do it without them.
“My sons have all gotten into lifting too, even the younger ones. My five-year-old has been training with me since he was one, he absolutely loves it.”
A massive factor in the strongman world is the support from sponsors.
John explained: “A company called Cerberus Strength has been sponsoring me and they supply me with a lot of my equipment.
“There’s a company called Maximum Iron that recently made a documentary about stone lifting that’s currently on Amazon Prime.
“I featured quite heavily in it and got to go to the first cinema release which was surreal.
“2024 has been a really crazy year for me.”
Originally from Alford, John now lives and works in the Granite City as an estimating manager at Dales Marine Services.
John said: “My work has been so supportive of me – they sponsor my t-shirts and I brought in my trophies the other day. They appreciate how hard I work for this.”
What does it take to be a strongman?
It can be quite an intense regime for John.
John said: “I train three times a week every week, however if it’s the lead-up to a competition I do more specific comp-based training.
“I always have to make sure I’ve got plenty of food in. At 120kg, I aim to eat around 3-4000 calories a day – you can’t beat a second lunch
“What I like to say to people is discipline beats motivation. Sometimes I can’t be bothered going but once I power through I always feel better for it.”
To have come this far feels like an incredible achievement, with many memorable moments along the way.
John said: “We have a great community of strong lifters up here and we all try and train and support each other. I’ve made some friends for life.
“To do the double and win both the Scottish and the British championships, is unbelievable. I’m still buzzing off of it
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