The Boroughbridge man with the strength to succeed

So far this year, Boroughbridge man Darren Sadler has organised sell-out events at the Royal Albert Hall in London, the First Direct Arena in Leeds, the Utility Arena Sheffield, the Utility Arena Birmingham and the OVO Hydro Arena in Glasgow.

The day after we met, he was due to fly to Las Vegas to organise a show in a 7,000-seat arena.

Darren doesn’t promote Taylor Swift or some other pop star. He puts on strongman contests and over the last decade has transformed the sport from something watched by a few dozen people in car parks to a huge international business.

He organises all the Giants Live qualifying events for the World’s Strongest Man, as well as other big arena shows. Locally, England's Strongest Man and Britain's Strongest Woman are being held at the York Barbican on June 22 and some tickets to this super-human show of strength remain.

The Giants Live Facebook page has 4.3 million followers and its YouTube page has 1.3 million subscribers. One YouTube short has attracted 107 million views.

Despite its growth, Darren remains firmly embedded in his Boroughbridge roots. He lives locally with wife Jenna and their two children and the Giants Live operation is run from a small office near his Absolute Fitness gym at Roecliffe. 

Many of the greatest names in strength sport history, such as American Bill Kazmaier, Icelandic strongman and Game of Thrones star Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, and Britain’s Eddie Hall have trained at Absolute Fitness. Rising Harrogate star Luke Richardson has also lifted some heavy duty iron here.

World's Strongest Man

Darren was one of the world’s top strongmen before he got into promoting.

A strong but not especially sporty child, he started going to the gym aged 16 to lose weight. Local strongman Dave Warner spotted his potential and — in an early sign of Darren's determination — he welded his own strongman kit with his dad.

He finished second in his first competition, East Coast’s Strongest Man at Scarborough in 1998, aged 18 and by 2001 had competed in his first Britain’s Strongest Man.

During an 18-year career, he went on to compete at the World’s Strongest Man in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010, with a best place finish of 11th. 

In the land of the giants that is strongman, where competitors can weigh well over 150kg, Darren was a relatively diminutive figure weighing about 120kg whose nickname was the Pocket Rocket.

He remains the second lightest man, behind Franco Columbu, the late Italian-American friend of Arnold Schwarzenegger, to ever have lined up at the World’s Strongest Man. He twice won the deadlift competition at the World’s Strongest Man and regularly squatted 300kg for 10 reps in training.

Darren also cut his weight to take part in three under-105kg World’s Strongest Man contests, and won in 2006 in Oklahoma.

He used to work for Citroen dealer David Fox in Harrogate and trained after work. But in 2011 he added to his gruelling schedule by organising his first strongman show in his gym car park. He says:

His big breakthrough came the following year when he organised Europe’s Strongest Man at Headingley in Leeds.

With his contacts in the sport, Darren was able to attract most of the top competitors. 

At the time he was sponsored by sports nutrition firm Multipower and worked with Leeds Rhinos rugby league team. Rhinos coach Gary Hetherington agreed to let Darren use the pitch for the contest and he came up with the ambitious plan of selling 5,000 tickets. "I put my life’s savings into it," he says.

It worked and he has not looked back since. He went into partnership with Colin Bryce at Giants Live in 2013 and has taken strongman to levels never before seen. 

What is the sport’s appeal? He says:

Strongman has taken Darren to every corner of the world but he always returns to Boroughbridge.

His remarkable story took another twist this year when he and Boroughbridge Town Council revealed plans to create a Boroughbridge Sports Village at Aldborough Gate. 

A consultation found 93% supported the scheme, which would include free-to-use community facilities, including a games field, a one kilometre running track, a sprint track and a multi-use games areas for team sports, as well as a nature reserve.

There would also be a gym and functional strength training centre and a health food café run on a commercial basis by Darren.

Plans are expected to be submitted to North Yorkshire Council this year. What would it mean to Darren to open such a facility in his home town?

Will it succeed?

After all he's achieved, it's hard to doubt him.

Tickets for England's Strongest Man and Britain's Strongest Woman at the York Barbican can be ordered here.