Muscles were straining when the renowned Preston’s Strongest Man competition returned to the city centre’s flag market on Saturday (29 July).

The contest involved men competing against each other to discover who the strongest was, resembling the World’s Strongest Man series.

Chris Walker, the organiser, included five events in the competition -PSM’s famous medley, dead lift, farmers into tyre flip, truck pull and Atlas stone run.

He decided to hold Preston’s Strongest Man to raise money for the charity Combatstress because he thinks there needs to be a big drive on mental health, which may often be ‘swept under the carpet’, and he has friends serving in Afghanistan so felt it was a well worthy cause.

There were two category’s to compete in on the day, including novice and open.

Read more: Spot yourself at Preston’s Strongest Man

The winner of the novice was Lee Cheetham and the winner of the open was Jon Bleach.

Chris Walker, who lives in Kirkham, said: “We raised a few hundred pounds for combat stress and still collecting so we don’t have a final amount just yet.

“Everyone did very well and really looking forward to adding a ladies category next year.

“Everyone including the spectators had a great time.”