Reed Smith Lifts the Dinnie Stones!

by Rocky Macy

Proud Uncle

Reed Smith, a middle school science teacher and basketball coach from Rogers, Arkansas, is an amazing individual, and he is one of my two favorite nephews!
 
Last week Reed was in Aberdeen, Scotland, where he successfully completed a goal that he set for himself several years before, and in the process got his name into a very exclusive book of record-holders.  In his spare time Reed is an amateur weightlifter who has held multiple Arkansas state records.  He traveled to Scotland in order to take part in an annual challenge to lift the famous “Dinnie Stones.”
 
(I suspected that Reed might one day become a serious weightlifter when he was around fourteen years old and visited a little farm that I owned at the time near Noel, Missouri.  On the day of that visit, I was doing some rehabilitation work on a small pond about halfway down a very rough hill.  The work involved carrying eighty-pound bags of cement from the barn down to the pond site, perhaps a hundred-and-fifty yards or more - over rough terrain.  Reed stepped up and placed one of the eighty-pound bags on his shoulder and carried it to the pond.  Then he returned to the barn and somehow managed to lift two eighty-pound bags, one onto each shoulder, and started to walk toward the pond, but after a few steps he wisely stopped and sat one of the bags down, leading this uncle to surmise that successful lifting relies on strength and intellect!)
 
The Dinnie Stones are two very large granite stones that had handles attached to them in the early 1800’s and were used as counterbalances for the scaffolding that was employed for the construction and maintenance of the Potarch Bridge over the River Dee in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.   One of the original workmen at that site was Robert Dinnie, who lifted the two stones as a part of his labor on the bridge.  Robert’s son, Donald Dinnie, also worked on the bridge in his youth and went on to become a world-famous athlete.  Donald Dinnie lifted the stones and carried them bare-handed across the Potarch Bridge in 1860, seventeen feet and one-and-a-half inches, a feat that has, to date, only been accomplished by seven men (without weight-lifting straps).   Those seven men include both Robert and Donald Dinnie for whom the stones were ultimately named.
 
The Dinnie Stones were lost sometime after World War I, but were relocated in the River Dee in 1953.  Now there is a “grip-lift” challenge each year in which weightlifters from around the world gather near the Potarch Bridge to attempt to life the stones, one in each hand, and keep them off the ground for at least two seconds.
 
Reed Smith took that challenge last week – and beat it.   I’ve seen the video, and Reed looked relatively at ease while he accomplished the feat.  Reed’s name will be entered into a record book that is dedicated solely to the lift, and he will be among just over two-hundred-and-fifty individuals who have been enshrined on that distinguished list over the course of many years.
 
Reed called his successful effort in Scotland “The lift of my life.”
 
Reed Smith is five-feet-and-seven-inches tall.  At the time of the lift last week he weighed 233 pounds.  The stone that he lifted with his right hand weighed 414.5 pounds, and the stone in his left hand weighed 318.5 pounds – for a total lift of 733 pounds.  Reed had been training for this challenge for over four years, and, at one point, he and his older brother, Justin (my other favorite nephew), traveled to Ohio so that he could practice with a replica set of stones maintained by the Rogue Fitness Company.  Reed said that he had difficulty lifting the stones in Ohio, but that he learned things from that experience which helped him to be successful in Scotland.
 
Reed was accompanied to the event by his wife, Jamie, who is an elementary teacher in Rogers, and Jamie’s sister, Stacy.   Reed’s older sister, Dr. Heidi Pfetcher and her husband, Jason, were also in attendance.   The entire family is very proud of our world renown strongman!

Reed Smith during his successful

"lift of my life!"

Reed standing between the famous

Stoltman brothers.  Tom (left) is a former

two-time "Strongest Man in the World," 

and Luke (right) is a one-time

"Strongest Man in Europe."