| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1969 |
| Occupation | Strongman / Highland Games |
| Height | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) |
| Weight | 24 stone (340 lb; 150 kg) |
| Sport | |
| Country | Great Britain |
Laine Snook (born 1969) is a former athlete, and current strongman and professional Highland Games competitor. As an athlete he competed internationally but his career was cut short by injury. He went on to specialise in strength based sport and represented both England and Great Britain in various Highland Games and strength athletic events. He also became the world benchpress champion. He has gained international renown in strength sport for being one of the world's foremost exponents of grip strength.
| Competition record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Highland Games | |||
| Competitor for England | |||
| World Highland Games Cabre-tossing champion | |||
| Champion | 2000 | ||
| Strongman | |||
| Competitor for United Kingdom | |||
| Rolling Thunder World Record | |||
| Champion | 1 August 2006 | ||
| Powerlifting | |||
| World Benchpressing championships World Drug Free Powerlifting Federation (WDFPF) |
|||
| Champion | 1997 | ||
| Champion | 1999 | ||
Contents |
Laine's father ran a large transport company, something which Laine would go on to emulate in running Devon Fleet's Hereford Branch.[1] By the age of 12 Laine was 6'2'' and 15 stone. He became a shot putter and Geoff Capes became his coach.
Winning such events as the AAA Midland Counties championship in 1994,[2] (following in the footsteps of athletes such as Bill Tancred and Andy Drzewiecki) were platforms to Laine performing at international level. However, an operation on his spine forced him to abandon a career as an athlete. He therefore began concentrating on other strength sports such as bench pressing and grip strength.
As a bench presser he has won the British and European championships super-heavyweight division on numerous occasions. In 1997 and 1999 he was the winner of the World Bench Press Championships. He is also noted for having broken a number of records in bench pressing and in 1999 lifted and held for one minute Ian Wright and the bench he was lying on, amounting to 17 st 4 lb.
As a strength athlete he competed in national level events in the United Kingdom and was a finalist in both 2000 and 2001 in Britain's Strongest Man.
He is also a successful Highland Games competitor and 2001 became the world caber-tossing champion.[3]
In 2006 and began training rigorously once more, in his home gym six days a week for two hours a day. He began to develop the grip strength facet of strength sports and has since notched up numerous notable achievements. On 1 August 2006 he became the world record holder in the international recognised Rolling Thunder lift, deemed by Ironmind as one of the ultimate tests of grip strength. This was done at Pullum Sports, Luton[4] Laine was then unable to attend the 2008 World Championships, won by Mark Felix, due to injury. On 21 December 2008, at the Whey Power Challenge Laine Snook hoisted two Millennium Dumbbells, dumbbells with "handles as thick as a Coke can" weighting 230 lbs each.[5] Commenting on this, Randall J. Strossen noted that Laine Snook had first come to the attention of the grip strength world when he certified on the No. 3 Captains of Crush Gripper, officiated by Jamie Reeves. Augmenting his reputation, his world record in the Rolling Thunder combined with the Millennium Dumbbell feat have led Strossen to say that Laine has started "to produce some marks that will astound the grip world".[6]