‘Warrior’ Longford woman of Midlands Strength Gym triumphs in international event

A hugely determined and Longford town-based strongwoman who only began entering competitions last year has won a prestigious international competition.

Kirsty Smyth, a member of the local Midlands Strength Gym, triumphed in the Clash of the Celts, which featured the strongest novice strongwomen from Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

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The talented 34 year-old won the Ireland Novice League last September and followed it up impressively by winning the latest competition and collecting a decorative glass plate from the event at GSP gym in Galway on Saturday.

Kirsty came out on top in three of the five disciplines at the Clash of the Celts -winning the 'Farmers Carry' (75kg per hand), The 'Duck Walk into Power Stairs' (100kg) and the 'Sandbag Dash Carry and Load' (80kg).

She also achieved a personal best in the 'Deadlift' by lifting 170kg and finishing third in that section of the competition and she achieved a very credible second place in the 'Axel Ground to Overhead reps'.

The Dublin native who lived abroad for seven years, relocated to Longford just under three years ago.

Kirsty initially joined the Midlands Strength Gym in September 2024 with the goal of losing some weight and she said that is when 'everything really changed' and the camaraderie has been wonderful.

"I have actually lost four stones since last September.

"Strongwoman is completely new, I would always have been kind of going to the gym, but you know, just your standard stuff.
"The community is incredible.

"They are some of my closest friends, I was abroad traveling for seven years and I had been living in Dublin prior to that and I came back and I moved in with my parents, so I knew nobody.

"Then I joined the gym and the community is unreal.

"It happened so quickly and they are my closest friends now and my biggest supporters, it's mad."

April Dardis, from Forgney, Ballymahon, who opened the popular Midlands Strength Gym in September 2024 with her fiancé David Harrington, praised Kirsty, who has competed in seven different events for her determination and success.

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"She's never lost a competition and she's a fair warrior alright.

"She started all of this about 14 months ago and she was at it for kind of a weight loss journey which we succeeded in.

"So you would have been up against kind of, for some people, unachievable kind of weights is kind of what you would have been looking at.

"But she blitzed it.

"She won the final three of the five events that day.

April said Kirsty came out on top by marginal points in the three disciplines she won but 'big points in comparison to the rest'.

"The weights would get heavier and heavier in each competition.

"She's a warrior, especially with the weight loss side of it.

"Because, you know she was up against people essentially who are a lot heavier mass than she is and with mass comes strength."