Carn firefighter says “I’ll be back”

Carndonagh firefighter Liam Shiels is on his way home to Inishowen after competing in the World’s Strongest Firefighter Contest in Ohio, USA.

Liam was proud to represent the Carndonagh Fire Service at the two-day contest, which was established by former bodybuilder and Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger.

And the 34-year-old, who owns Pure Grit gym in Carn, even got to rub shoulders with Arnie himself!

Ultimately, Liam was disappointed – but undeterred – by his overall performance.

“Myself and another fireman, Cathal McNally from Dublin Fire Service, competed this year. I finished 9th in the U-105kg and Cathal, who competed in the open weight class, unfortunately just missed out on the cut for the second day by one place.”

“We are obviously both disappointed in the final standing but it’s just adding more fuel for next year.”

Liam has been a firefighter in Carn for two years and has been training for the contest since last August.

“Training started over six months ago and total time competing on the day itself was under three minutes. So it’s a lot of training and hard work for such a short space of time on the actual day,” he explains.

The Carn man says he’s already focused on next year’s competition – and he also paid tribute to his number one supporter.

“I want to thank my wife Debbie for letting me basically disappear for the last six months; all my spare time was spent in the gym.”

Meanwhile, Liam was beginning the first leg of his journey back to Carn last night.

“If anyone else is looking to get into strongman/women, you can reach out to me @puregritgym.”