05/04/2026
This afternoon, as part of the Ulladulla Blessing of the Fleet Festival, we headed down to Ulladulla Harbour to take part in the "Tug-o-war" competition and defend our title.
Last year we had turned up for the first time with zero experience, and over the course of 4 or 5 events we eventually won. It wasn't easy. I remember my forearms were on fire after the first heat, and they never really got a chance to recover after that. The pump was real, but we got there.
This year, up until a couple of hours before the event, we were a man down. I spent the morning madly messaging and speaking to potential fill-ins so that we could field a team. We got lucky when Aiden Jack , stepped up and into the role as anchor.
With myself and Ant (members from last year's team), plus 2 new recruits, Lee and Darren, and Aiden, we were ready to give it a red hot crack.
The only thing standing in our way was a Dream Team put together by James Walker comprised of athletes/coaches from CrossFit Huey, which included 4 other heavy hitters - Darryn Thomson, Rupes, Mark Andrew Logan (Frother), and Huey's newest Coach, Jimmy Ghislain . (All of these guys happen to be mates, as well).
Upon registering, we discovered there were 4 teams in total. The other 2 teams, one from Gwylo, and the other comprised of Filipino Fishermen, were both adversaries from last year. We had beat them both so there was some confidence amongst the team that we could take them.
As luck would have it though, our first heat was against the heavy hitters.....the worst possible draw for us.
We were called up and we took our positions, facing off against each other on the sand. The slack was taken out of the rope. Then MC Matt Dell called out "3, 2, 1, Apex!", and just like that, the battle began.
Neither team moved. It felt like someone had tied the other end of our rope to a mountain. There was zero ground being given up by either team.
After what felt like an eternity but was probably less than a minute, we started to feel some small back and forth gains and losses being made.
The large crowd of spectators were yelling and screaming while blood flow to the forearms streamed in creating an intense pump and sense of fatigue.
The other team would heave and pull us their way. Then we would reply and bring the rope back to centre.
This went on for nearly 3 minutes before the other team hit us with a few well timed heaves, one after the other, which we had no counter attack for.
They took that momentum and pulled us over the line, and just like that, our title defence was over.
As is custom, we high-fived and fist bumped each other using arms that were barely able to be raised, and congratulated the Dream Team on a well-earnt win.
It was an epic battle and even though we lost, I was really proud of the fight we put up. I could not have asked anymore from my team. There was no doubt from anyone who was watching, that every one of the lads gave it 100%.
A big thank you goes out to Aiden for jumping in at the last minute and Darren who got dragged into it on Friday.
To Ant and Lee - Journey Strong regulars - we start pulling cars down the street this week. We have a year to get ready.
