IHGF World Highland Games Strength Challenge Championships 2014, Satu Mare, Romania
The 2014 IHGF World Highland Games Strength Challenge, held in at the AquaStar Spa Satu Mare, Romania in early July, added a new page in Highland Games history with a games staged in Romania for the first time. The entire event was filmed for TV, and the lineup of athletes represented a range of countries: Ivan Medimurec (Croatia); Georg Ögmundsson (Iceland); Rafal Kobylarz (Poland); Al Myers (USA); Chad Ullom (USA); Alexandru Cortean (Romania); Roni Kecskés (Serbia); Tibor Kiss (Hungary); Tamás Saliga (Hungary); and Johan Langhorst (Netherlands) .
Since last year’s IHGF World Highland Games Strength Challenge, “the overall standard had significantly improved,” Francis Brebner reported, “and new contenders for this year’s championships were Ögmundsson, Kobylarz and Langhorst, all of whom were very impressive to see for the first time. “From the first event on, Kobylarz took the reins, winning four of the eight events, but it was not all smooth terrain. He had to work extra hard for his victories, but in the end he claimed the championships title with a 9-point lead,” said Brebner.