27, February, 2006. IFSA Strongman and United Strongman Series (USS) are pleased to announce that they have signed a cooperation and athlete alliance agreement that will allow one another’s athletes to compete in their respective calendar of 2006 events.

President of IFSA Strongman, Christian Fennell, said; “We have watched the United Strongman Series and they have staged very good events over the past year and as such, felt that it would be only beneficial to both parties to open the door to one another’s 2006 events. As a whole, there is too much fragmentation in strongman, so when you see an outfit like United Strongman Series starting to execute good events and being so successful, IFSA Strongman is then only too happy to allow our world class athletes to compete in these events and to provide two official IFSA referees for each event. It is also encouraging for the sport as a whole when the United Strongman Series, as a result of our cooperation, will also apply the Strongman Health and Safety rules.”

On a last note, Fennell said, “We look forward to USS athletes coming into our events and challenging our guys for the title of the ‘Strongest Man in the World'”.

Recent Sponsorship research commissioned by IFSA Strongman has shown that the Strongman sport is one of the most viewed sports currently available to TV viewers on a global basis.

President of United Strongman Federation, Lucky Schmidtleitner, stated; “It is our policy to be open for everyone, hold world class events and to work on our vision of a united strongman sport. Athletes from all over the world will be competing against each other and we are proud to announce that one athlet of the United Strongman Series 2006 will have a quaranteed place in the IFSA ‘Strongest Man in the World’ Championships, another one will have a guaranteed place in the qualifier for IFSA ‘Strongest Man in the World’ Championships.”

Vice-President and CEO of the United Strongman Federation, Othmar Valzacchi mentioned that “We are proud that, IFSA Strongman and the United Strongman Series, the two strongest federations, have reached a reasonable long-term cooperation agreement for the benefits of both parties.”

Both IFSA Strongman and United Strongman Series wish all their athletes a very successful and healthy 2006 competition year.

Be strong!

Links:
http://www.ifsastrongman.com/
http://www.unitedstrongman.org/

For further information please contact:
Marcel Mostert
Director IFSA
marcel.mostert@ifsastrongman.com 

Othmar Valzacchi
Vice-President USS
mailto:ov@unitedstrongman.org

United Strongman Federation
Paradeisergasse 9
9020 Klagenfurt
AUSTRIA