The University of West Florida’s exercise science club recently held its second annual strongman competition known as the Argonaut Games on Saturday.

Almost everyone has seen some version of a strongman competition late night on ESPN with giant Norwegian guys whose veins appear as if they are about to explode out of their necks, pulling tour buses or lifting boulders that would crush an ordinary man.

Think of the Argonaut Games as UWF’s smaller-scale and much less horrifying version of these types of strength contests.

According to exercise science club President Sean Lacey, this was a purely student-run event. The competitors were separated into two weight classes — under 200 pounds and over 200 pounds.

Each weight class competed in the same events, with adjustments made to the amount of weight carried by each class. Competitors participated in five separate events.

Events included the overhead press, tire flip, farmers carry, truck pull and the medley, which is in fact a series of events performed in rapid secession.

There was a fairly large group of spectators on hand, and it seemed they couldn’t help but be impressed by the raw strength of the competitors.

Dianna Kemp was on hand as a member of the exercise science club.

“They had some intense competition going on out there, and I was incredibly impressed with all of the competitors,” she said.