An ambulance technician has been given a meat allowance by a butcher to help him with training ahead of representing Scotland at a UK strongman competition next month.
Calum Elder, 38, who works for Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) as an emergency responder, will take part in the UK and Ireland Strongest Natural competition in May.
The competition is drug-tested to ensure athletes lifting weights are not using performance enhancing drugs, and will be held in Preston, Lancashire.
Mr Elder, from Kirkwall, Orkney, first competed in a strongman competition four years ago, at the John O’ Groat’s Strongest Man.
He has the backing of islanders including a butcher who provided him with a meat allowance to cut down his spending on groceries but, because Orkney has no federation or sports club, he has to self-fund his competitions.
Mr Elder qualified as an ambulance technician in 2022 and fits his weight training around 12-hour shifts, as well as being a father.
He has lifted several Scottish Manhood Stones: such as the Saddlin’ Mare (99 kilogrammes), Dalwhinnie (102 kg), and Newtonmore stones (101 kg).
Mr Elder also successfully lifted the famous Dinnie Stones, weighing a combined 332 kg, in Deeside, Aberdeenshire.
The stones are named after Donald Dinnie, a world-famous athlete and strongman, who carried the two stones across the bridge, which is more than 5.0 metres wide, in 1860.
He competed in his first ever national competition earlier this year, coming third, and has now been selected to represent Scotland.
Mr Elder said: “Quite often I have to train after my shift finishes at 7pm, travelling half an hour each way to train. It’s then a case of eating and hitting the hay to start another shift at 7am.
“My colleagues are all very supportive and are very interested to see how I get on at comps.
“I was absolutely delighted to come away with a third place finish out of a field of the nation’s strongest natural strongmen earlier in the year.
“The podium finish meant that I qualified to represent Scotland at the UK and Ireland’s Strongest Natural.”
Strongman competitions involve competitors trying to lift large weights, and Mr Elder was inspired to try it after seeing an advertisement on social media from a strongman named Rhino, who invited him to a session.
Mr Elder added: “Rhino was testing the water slightly and threw me in at the deep end to try out the log lift.
“While I was not lifting anywhere near what the regulars do, I really enjoyed giving it a shot. It inspired me to get into it seriously and train for competitions.”
In 2020, his first year of competing, he entered John O’ Groat’s Strongest Man, and ended up beating Rhino.
Mr Elder said: “Very kindly, one of the local butchers has given me a yearly meat allowance, which helps massively with the food bills and getting in top quality nutrition.
“I am currently looking for any sponsorship support I can get to aid in the costs of travelling and sourcing new equipment.
“As I don’t have the backing of a sports club or federation in Orkney, it’s currently coming out of my own pocket.
“This forces me to be quite selective in which comps I enter.”