Dannevirke man’s misson to be New Zealand’s strongest man

Jarna training at Activate Gym in preparation for the upcoming South Island Strongest Man Competition with 180kg on the bar. Photo / Dave Murdoch

Jarna Mihaere of Dannevirke is aiming for the title of New Zealand’s Strongest Man.

But he knows that big and strong as he is, he has some work to do and some competitions to enter before that will happen.

When he started out three years ago on this mission, he thought it might be easy because in his first competition - the Manawatū’s Strongest Man - he won.

Since then he has competed in other regional and national competitions but the sport is now attracting some serious competition.

In February, he came second in the Rural Games at Palmerston North despite smashing the record for lifting the five stones in the quickest time (25 seconds).

Encouraged, he entered in the NZ Strongest Man and Woman Competition in August in Auckland and placed seventh out of 13 competitors.

He was pleased with his performance and has now set the challenge of attending the South Island Strongest Man contest on November 17 in Christchurch. For this, he will need to gain some sponsorship as it is a fairly expensive business to compete in.

Meanwhile, he is in intensive training, five days a week for a couple of hours at Activate Gym and on Saturdays at the Manawatū Strength Club in Palmerston North where he gets training specific to strong man techniques. He says being strong is important but learning techniques from the best is critical to gaining success.

He says mental training is just as important too because in a contest pushing your body to do challenges you have never done before requires a strong belief that you can do it.

Jarna is not just doing this training for himself because he is employed by Ngati Kahungunu as a rangatahi mentor, supporting them to be the best they can be both academically and in sport. He has even attended school classes with them and runs basketball and netball competitions out of school at the stadium.

He wants to not only tell kids how to achieve but he also wants to show them, which motivates him to be the best himself. He hopes some of his protégés follow him in his sport and plans to run a Tararua Strongest Man and Woman contest sometime soon.

He has another reason to strive as well – recently he discovered his tipuna two generations back were New Zealand strongmen and renowned nationwide. That’s an act to follow!

If you want to help Jarna go to the South Island and assist him to put Tararua District on the map give him a call on 027 346 4277.

Dave Murdoch is a part-time photo-journalist working for the Bush Telegraph and based at Dannevirke. He has covered any community story telling good news about the district for the last ten years.