HILO – Huffing, puffing and screaming, Bronson Tiwanak already had a stranglehold on victory when he trudged across the red line. However, the 16,000-plus pound semi-trailer tractor cab that he was pulling had not.
After a brief rest on the ground, Tiwanak trucked on himself and finished.
There was lots of gain and, as it turns out, little pain Saturday for Tiwanak, who easily repeated as champion at a strongman competition at the Big Island Substance Abuse Council’s Summer Jam at Waiakea High.
“My legs didn’t hurt,” Tiwanak said. “I couldn’t feel them. That’s why I stopped.”
Everything else about his performance screamed unstoppable. Tiwanak, a 27-year-old Honolulu police officer, swept all seven events, capping it with personal tow of almost 70 feet in the truck pull.
“I could just hear my coach screaming, telling me to get up,” he said.
His least favorite event: the interview afterward.
“I’m so afraid of public speaking,” he said.
But flipping tires, tug-of-war and carrying large stones don’t faze him.
Tiwanak was an unassuming winner for the second consecutive year, but a lot more planning went into this title. Last year he only had three days’ notice before the event, but he breezed this year on the strength of a year’s worth of preparation.
“Bronson is a monster,” runner-up Sean Gutekanst said. “Everything he does is so easy and fast.”
The third annual event was sanctioned by North American Strongman for the first time, and Tiwanak earned a spot to a national competition in October in Iowa, where he’ll represent Hawaii.
Gutekanst, a 31-year-old Konawaena graduate who works in private security, posted his best finish in his three tries at the event. He tore a bicep muscle two years ago and was fourth in 2014.
“I don’t really train for this,” he said. “I train in powerlifting and this is something I like to do on the side.”
Gutekanst was second in mas-wrestling – which resembles tug-of-war – and third in five other events. His worst finish, fourth, came in his favorite event, atlas stones.
“Stones took a toll on some of us,” he said. “Guys who usually do well in this, it wasn’t happening today.”
Gutekanst and Kamu Wassman tied with 28 points – 14 behind Tiwanak – but Gutekanst took second because he weighed less. Wassman was a two-time runner-up.
Waiakea graduate Devin Preston was fourth, and Joey Cadiz, a former University of Hawaii football player, was fifth.
“We call him mighty mouse,” BISAC CEO Dr. Hannah Preston-Pita told the crowd of the 180-pounder.
Perhaps Cadiz will fare better next year when organizers hope to put on a two-day event that includes lightweight and heavyweight divisions as well as a Pro-Am.
“I hope this comes to Oahu, but for right now, Hilo is the place to be for strongman,” Tiwanak said.