Katie P. from Florida was the winner of the Propeller experience to "Win a VIP Flyaway to the 2023 SBD World's Strongest Man Competition Final in Myrtle Beach" that took place in April 2023. Below are some of Katies's highlights from the experience.
VIP EXPERIENCE
Experiencing the World's Strongest Man event with the VIP package was a huge highlight.
The VIP tickets included a tented viewing area, front row viewing opportunities, food and drink throughout the day, and, perhaps best of all, the opportunity to meet with past and present strongman athletes in the tent.
Without this, the experience may have been challenging for me. I have a disease called Endometriosis and standing in the heat of the general admission all day would've put too much strain on my body. I appreciated the VIP package in more ways than one and especially because it allowed me to watch all the events without any pain.
MEETING ATHLETES
One of the biggest highlights was meeting the athletes. When you see them on the competition floor, strongman athletes operate with a level of intensity that is kind of scary to us regular humans. But, a surprising thing about them is that you probably couldn't find a kinder group of people.
Everyone I met gave whatever time they had to talk, sign autographs, and take photos. Eddie Hall and Kevin Faires even came up to congratulate me on winning the giveaway!
The same goes for the strongman community of fans who are also some of the kindest and most supportive people you will meet. Many people came up to me to congratulate me on winning the giveaway and I was overwhelmed by the kindness.
From the time I won the giveaway I had my heart set on meeting Oleksii Novikov. It came to the last day of competition and the opportunity hadn't arisen so I figured it was not meant to be. I had finally been able to watch him compete so that was good enough for me. But, at the very end of the competition, after it was all over and I was going to check in with the event team, I saw him walking by and I was very lucky to get a quick photo with him.
PODIUM FINISH
Part of the giveaway was getting a photo with the winner. Which was cool in itself, but what I didn't expect was the opportunity to get a photo at the podium with the top 3 athletes. It was a little nerve racking to be out in front of the crowd, but once I was there I forget about the crowd and we took the coolest photo ever.
EXTRA GIVEAWAY ITEMS
Some of the extra giveaway gifts were the cherry on top of an already awesome package. There was a rest day between the competition event days, and on that day I was able to use my Uber credits to visit the Tanger Outlet Stores and use my gift card to pick up a new top. I also visited the Alligator Adventure park and on the other extra day I used my gift card to play mini golf.
The merchandise pack from TYR and SBD was better than I ever could have imagined! The SBD pack was even hand delivered to me in front of the crowd by Big Z which was a very surreal moment!
HOSPITALITY
There has to be a special mention for the entire event staff team who took great care of me and gave me the rockstar treatment. Each time I saw them during the event days they checked if I needed anything and were always happy to help when I had any questions.
I can't thank them enough for their warm hospitality.
This was the trip of a lifetime and I walked away with a sore throat from cheering them on for 4 days and memories I will never forget.
- Katie P.
