Last month, Andrea Seed from Lancashire County Council’s adult social care team travelled to America to compete in the Official Strongman Games.
She secured an impressive third-place finish, returning home to Longridge with a trophy and medal.
Andrea trains all year round but in the eight weeks running up to the competition, she trained four-nights-a-week for two to three hours at a time, lifting weights.
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She also incorporated physio sessions twice a month.
Last year, she attended the competition and managed to achieve fourth place. This year she was hoping to make the podium but only told her coach at the time as she feared she might jinx her chances if she spoke it aloud.
Andrea said: “The competition in America is like the pinnacle of our sport really. Competitions in the UK are getting bigger but they never get the kind of numbers that you have in the USA. It was something like 500 athletes that were there so it’s a big show.”
Andrea travelled to the event with a few other athletes from Preston, and for some of them it was their first time.
Andrea said: “The atmosphere is always different, it feels like another level and it’s so intimidating if you haven’t been before.”
Despite the distance, support for Andrea was strong back in Lancashire. Her colleagues at Lancashire County Council shared their pride on social media, with a Facebook post from the Adult Social Care team cheering her on and celebrating her journey to the world stage.
Reflecting on her success in America, Andrea was pleased with her result as it was something that she aimed to achieve.
She said: “When you’ve worked so hard for something for so long and have thought about it for so long and then when you actually do it, it can be a bit underwhelming.
“I’m just a normal person, at school I didn’t do sports and was never a sporty person.
“I tried so hard to achieve it for so long so when it actually happened I couldn’t believe it”
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