Basque Stone Lifting

Basque Stone Lifting

I have been a keen fan of lifting stones for many years. As a young boy I can remember trying to lift anything and everything that looked like it had some weight in it. Old axles, stones, bags, boxes anything really.

I fondly remember at the age of 8 managing to just lift a 50kg bag of cement (they only come in 25kg bags now) off the floor at my Grandad's builders yard.

There is something very primal and instinctive when it comes to lifting stones and something that gives me much satisfaction, even though I should know better. Last summer I tried out and succeeded with both the Inver Stone and the Dinnie Stones and later this year I hope to return to Potarch along with Laine Snook and have a go at walking with the Dinnies, maybe it should be called walking with Dinosaurs.

Anyways, here's something interesting from the net about Basque Stonelifting. performed in rural Basque areas of Spain along with a nice video of a 1 handed 200kg basque stone lift

"Years before any one had heard of professional athletics and before competitors had made sport a way of earning a living, the inhabitants of the rural areas of the Basque country in northern Spain had gone in the opposite direction, making their daily work into a sport. Peasants and farmers, used to lifting stones, cutting logs and mowing fields, discovered that these chores had a game-like aspect and used them as an excuse to compete and demonstrate their physical prowess. With the industrialization of farming, these activities remained behind as vestiges of a former way of life and a particular way of spending one’s leisure time.

Stone-lifting, perhaps the most spectacular of Basque sports, has its origins in the quarries and in the use of large standing stones to mark off boundaries. Over the years it has managed to avoid the dangers threatening the survival of other traditional games, which are so often forgotten by the press, overlooked in the distribution of official grants and squeezed out of education programmes by more fashionable disciplines imported from other continents. However, the sports events of the Basque Country continue thanks to the support of local councils which include exhibitions in their festival programmes, and thanks also to their extensive coverage in the press by expert journalists who have managed to carve a niche for themselves among the pages reserved for football, the king of sports in Spain.

The first step for a “harrijasotzaile” ( t h e Basque word for “lifter”) is to go to a stonemason’s workshop, find a stone he likes, and have it properly prepared for the challenge: to lift one kilo more than at his last attempt. This is done by injecting lead into holes that are worked into the original granite slab, until the stone weighs exactly what the lifter wants. The current world record for stone-lifting is held by Migeltxo Saralegi, a 27-year-old from Navarre, who succeeded in lifting 320 kilos. But because of his youth Saralegi has not yet replaced the greatest lifter of all time, his neighbour, friend and teacher, Iñaki Perurena, in the memories of stone-lifting aficionados. Perurena, who is also known as “the colossus of Leiza” (his native town), has achieved popularity ratings in Spain that are unheard-of for a rural sportsman, though they are understandable in light of his competition history. He became national champion at the age of 17 with a lift of 175 kilos, and defended his title year after year with progressively heavier stones until 1987 when, at the age of 31, he achieved what was thought to be impossible: lifting a 300- kilo stone onto his shoulder. Once this psychological barrier had been broken he continued to break his own records, up to 318 kg. There was competition among the Basque local councils to host his record attempts, which were supported by private sponsors, while booking agents helped maintain a rising interest in the events.

Despite the inevitably rough-hewn image of a man weighing almost 130 kg who lifts stones for fun, Perurena, who also works as a butcher and farmer, has given free rein to his more sensitive side by writing poetry about his land and its people. As he grasps the stone and tries to lift it onto his shoulder, he talks to it and asks it for help. He is even capable of disqualifying his own valid lifts if they are performed with the necessary strength but “‘without grace”. The main ambition of stone-lifters is to be considered as sportsmen, not just as local curiosities. Like all other athletes they need daily training, a balanced diet and a refined technique. Because of their exceptional physical condition some have received offers to become boxers or weightlifters, but most stone-lifters reject such offers without a second thought. They don’t want hasten the demise of an entire people’s tradition."



Basque Stone Lifting