Herculean Basques gather in Bilbao for the annual strongman games. Forming part of the celebrations for Aste Nagusia (Big Week in English and Semana Grande in Spanish) the games are a centrepiece of the daily celebrations of Bilbao's heritage. No-one has mastered the art of the fiesta quite like the Spanish and Bilbao's offering is no exception. The first day is all about wood. First up are the Aizkolariak, axe-wielding men who race to chop a 45-inch thick log in two from between their legs. Next are the Trontzalariak, two-man teams who have to shave 22 slices off a 70-inch log with a huge two-metre long saw.
The next two days see stone replace the wood and the appearance of the "strongest man in the world" - Basque harrijasotzaileak champion Mikeltxo Saralegui's record stone lift is 329 kilos (nearly a third of a ton), but the inspiring figure of 333 kilos drives him on. There are also speed-lifting events and Ox-drawn stones, but the most eye-catching event is on the final day when teams of four men have to burrow a series of holes in a block of granite using nothing but willpower and a steel javelin. It has to be seen to be believed.
Woodcutting competitions in the Basque Country are more a test of resistance than of speed. Except for exhibitions in local fiestas, they always last over a half hour and often times more than sixty minutes. The longest and most strenuous competition of all times took place between Mikel Mindegia and Jose Mari Mendizabal on January 23rd 1983 in the Tolosa bullring. Mendizabal won the two-million-peseta bet in four hours and twelve minutes - seventeen minutes less than his rival.
Stone-lifting events have virtually always been contests between two athletes. In exhibitions as well as championships, contenders take it in turns rather than both of them lifting their stones simultaneously. Once the stone has been lifted to shoulder level, it is tossed onto sandbags or tyres that have been previously placed on the ground in front of the athletes. An assistant then puts the stone in the correct position to be lifted anew. Until "Arteondo's" time, stone-lifting was more of a family event practised around farmhouses or quarries. The public was more interested in other tests of strength involving Olympic-type weights or pieces of lead, which were lifted over the head in one quick impulse. "Arteondo", however, did away with irregular shaped stones, bringing about a new dimension to stone-lifting and establishing classical shapes and weights.
"Arteondo", whose real name was Victor Zabala, enjoyed a long and active life as a stone-lifter - from 1910 and 1945 - his main rival being Pedro María Txurruka, alias "Aritza". Other famous stone-lifters following in their footsteps were "Ziaran Zar", "Ondartza", "Errekartetxo", "Usategieta", "Soarte", the "Agerre" brothers, "Endañeta" and "Urtain".
"Goenatxo" and Mikel Saralegi are stone-lifters who have made a name for themselves in more recent years. But the man who revolutionised the sport, bringing it a whole new dimension, was Iñaki Perurena, unquestionably the athlete par excellence in indigenous Basque rural sport today. Much the same as with other forms of rural sport, betting on competitions and challenges has given rise to officially organised championships and exhibitions taking place during local fiestas.
The Basque version of tug-of-war was traditionally disputed either in a fronton court or on the gravelly surface of local town squares and bullrings. The popularity of international competitions has led to soka-tira being more commonly played on grassy fields. In all of the provinces throughout the Basque Country soka-tira is played on hard surfaces in the winter, with participants wearing the traditional rubber abarcas, and out of doors in spring, with abarcas now replaced by studded boots, essential for getting a good foothold.
In the Basque Country today, the number of rope-tuggers taking part in competitions varies, depending on how much effort is made by the local clubs. Biscay is number one with some four hundred athletes. In Gipuzkoa the number drops to around two hundred; Alava and Navarre each have a hundred rope-tuggers, and in the French Basque Country, there are approximately eighty. The team with the most wins and the longest history is from the town of Nuarbe.
