The steaks are high for strong man Bilton

Earlier this month the former second row giant became the first Welshman to win the prestigious UK Strongest Man title in Northern Ireland. Now he wants to go one better and follow Gary Taylor into the record books by winning the world title.

Former Olympic and Commonwealth Games weightlifter Taylor won the British Strongest Man title twice in the nineties and won the word title in 1993. The UK Strongest Man event has been running as long as the British event and carries equal status, along similar lines to the WBO, WBA and IBF titles in boxing.

But the world of strongman events is a long way away from the sporting world in which Bilton used to excel. As a second row he played for home town club Caerphilly, Newbridge, the Army, Bridgend, Swansea, London Irish A and Newport.

Weighing in at a mere 120kgs (almost 19 stone) during his major playing days – he went up to 170kgs (26.5 stone) for his last two run-outs in the Premiership with Newport – the 6ft 6in colossus is now tipping the scales at a massive 190ks (30 stone).

“In my game it is a pretty simple equation – mass moves mass. The heavier you are the bigger the weights you can move,” said Bilton, who is 32 on October 23.

He certainly proved that law of physics in the unlikely setting of Belfast’s notorious Crumlin Road Gaol as he saw off the opposition in the battle for the UK title. Having almost crashed out on the first of two days of preliminary rounds of competition, he eventually reached the final and never looked back.

He showed his potential in the ‘Silver Dollar Deadlift’ by somehow raising a Welsh record 460kgs of the floor. That’s the equivalent of lifting a Welsh front row trio of Rhys Carre (130kg), Ryan Elias (110kg) and Tomas Francis (120kg) in one go and still being able to add in Justin Tipuric (100kg).

When it was showtime on the final day, Bilton got off to a great start and won the first of the five events, the ‘Sandbag Relay’, which required him to carry five sandbags weighing 100-120-140-160-180kgs over a short distance and load them onto a truck.

Next up was the ‘Truck Pull’. In this event he managed to win again, tugging the 16-ton vehicle, arm over arm, the required 25 metres in just 31 seconds. He finished third in the ‘Dumb Bell Medley’, which involved lifting weights from 18-120kgs one-handed above his head.

In the ‘Cage Squat’ he managed 10 reps of 320kgs – almost an entire front row – and finished off with fourth place in the ‘Power Steps’, where he had to carry three bags weighing 200kgs up five steps.

“I finished playing rugby so I could commit all my efforts to becoming the world’s strongest man. I also left the Army after almost 13 years and now all my focus is on taking the next step,” added Bilton.

“I managed to finish second in the Welsh Championships last year and now I’ve become the first Welshman in 30 years to win the UK title. It almost didn’t happen, though, because on the first day of eliminations I was only half a point away from going out.

“That day I walked past the trophy and just thought to myself, ‘I’m going to take that home with me’. Things got better on day two and then I was never off the top spot on the final day.
“I just couldn’t believe it. It took about half-a-hour for it to sink in – I was speechless. I eventually rang my wife to tell her the good news, but by then it was 4am in the morning. She wasn’t very happy!

“Gary Taylor was crowned the World’s Strongest Man in 1993 having won the British title twice and the Welsh crown nine times. Now I want to follow in his footsteps.”

One of Bilton’s best rugby memories was playing at Principality Stadium with Caerphilly in the final of the 2017 WRU National Bowl when the Cheesemen lost to Amman United 43-31. Having played there before with the Welsh Guards, Bilton tried to calm the nerves his team mates were feeling playing at the home of Welsh rugby and playing against a team that had Shane Williams on their bench.

“Before we went out there I told them Shane was a has-been, would be no threat and that if they caught him I’d sit on him. The only problem was we couldn’t catch him,” he added.
“I saw him run at me once, blinked and he was passed me. In the end we got beaten by the better team, but I think it was much the occasion that got the better of us as Amman United.”

It was his fellow Welsh Guardsman Matt Dwyer who got him involved with Welsh Premiership side Bridgend. He also went on to play for Swansea and Newport.

“A few years ago the dream was to become a professional player and maybe to play for Wales. But I always seemed to have an excuse for why I wasn’t getting further in rugby than I did,” he added.

“I used to blame the coaches for not picking me, or other players, and I tried to kid myself it was never my fault. What I’ve learned from taking part in Strong Man events is that you have to be brutally honest with yourself.

“There is only one person to blame if I don’t get to where I want to be – that’s me. I’m very fortunate that my wife believes in me, my coach, Simon Armstrong believes in me and now I truly believe I can go on to win the world title.

“You can never afford to just think you are able to achieve something. You must truly believe in yourself and make all the necessary sacrifices to get there.”

Since leaving the army and immersing himself in the world of Strong Man events, Bilton has opened his own gym in Caerphilly, Area 51, and has dedicated his life to getting bigger and stronger. Now all he wants is an invitation to join the party at the World’s Strongest Man competition in Florida later this year.

In 2019, Bala’s Ben Brunning took second place and Bilton is looking to rival the north Walian for the No 1 ranking in Wales. Also in the running for that accolade is the man who beat him in the Welsh Championships last year, Bridgend’s Gavin Jeanes. Jeanes took third place in Belfast.

“I’ve changed almost everything in my life to follow my dream. I want to push up to 200kg in weight to make myself even stronger,” said the man with a 64 inch chest and 40 inch waist.
“I eat virtually whatever I want and try to get through 8,000 calories a day. When I’m competing I step that up to 10,000.

“I have about six meals a day and I keep a protein shake by my bed to have if I wake up in the night. If not, it is the first thing I drink in the morning.

“You have to re-fuel all day long and be incredibly disciplined with what you are eating. I’ve had to buy a whole new wardrobe of clothes, get a new bed and new mattress and I’ve even thought about moving into a bungalow so I don’t have to walk upstairs.

Two tours of Afghanistan with the Welsh Guards helped Bilton “grow into a man” and he uses the experiences he had in the army as mental triggers for his training and performances.

When the going gets tough, the tough old Welsh Guardsman gets going!

“The army was brilliant for me. I signed up when I was 18 just after my brother came back from Iraq,” he said.

“Going to Afghanistan was my first experience of being in a war zone and it turned me into a man. We were prepared, but what came at us wasn’t what we had expected. They were certainly ready for a fight.

“Now I think to myself, ‘if I can go through what I went through in Afghanistan, then lifting a bit more weight than someone else is going to be easy by comparison.’ I use it as a trigger in my mental preparation.

“Rugby was a huge part of my life for so long, as was being in the army, but now I’m on a different kind of mission. I’m living my dream and I don’t want it to end until I’m crowned the World’s Strongest Man.”