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Name: Callum McConachy

Age: 37

From: Invercargill

Occupation: Teacher at Aurora College

Weight: 115kg

Height: 183cm

It's a pretty big claim to be Southland’s strongest man but that’s the title Callum McConachy, a teacher at Aurora College, earned recently when he took out the inaugural Murihiku Strength Challenge, a strongman event held at the 2023 Southland A and P Show, and it’s just one of a string of achievements.

A decathlete for many years, he was the first New Zealander to go to the World Double Decathlon Championships in 2010 – and event consisting of 20 track and field events contested over two days.

Knee injuries prompted him to focus more on throwing events and he joined a strength club in his hometown of Palmerston North, which in turn led him to strongman events.

Highland Games caught his attention, so he travelled to compete in the Waipu Highland Games, finishing fifth in his first year.

In 2021 he placed second at the National Championships.

He intends to try and compete overseas in the future.

The Te Anau Tartan Festival will represent something of a comeback for Callum who ended up critically ill in hospital after contracting sepsis about three months ago.

Callum runs the Murihiku Strength Club out of Crossfit Wild South and is actively encouraging other members to give highland games a go.

It’s that enthusiasm and support that has led to Dylan Kawana-Waugh and Karen Ladbrook joining the invitational line-up here in Te Anau.