Be it flipping a 1,000-pound tire, pulling a Mack truck, pressing a steel log or dead-lifting a Hummer, the events of the Saxonburg Strength Fest are a bit off the wall.

The participants are not. They are dead serious about the competition.

"A lot of mental discipline goes into this," said Joe Burger of Butler. "This competition is all about challenging yourself.

"You go to a science center or a museum, things are on exhibit. Well, this is an opportunity for us to be on exhibit, to show the public what we're capable of doing."

A stone load and chain drag round out the six events at the competition, which begins at noon Saturday at the Saxonburg Carnival grounds.

Don Pope of Fairview Park, Ohio, last year's Strength Fest champion, returns this year. He is ranked No. 6 in the nation and recently placed third at the national strength event in Arkansas.

"Having one of the top-ranked guys in the nation coming to a local competition like this is great," said Saxonburg Strength Fest director Doug Hilliard. "People will want to come out and see him perform."

Carl Lupica of North Olmstead, Ohio, and Joe Greene of Strongsville, Ohio, train with Pope. They will be competing Saturday as well.

Lupica stands 5-feet-11 and weighs 260 pounds. Greene is 6-3, 280.

"Don's gonna come in and dominate it," Lupica said. "He's the one who told us about it and talked us into coming down."

Lupica has competed in 10 strength competitions in past years and has won the Mid-Ohio event.

"I went through a divorce and it was a terrible one," he said. "I had to steer my angry energy someplace.

"Once I tried a strength competition … It's addicting. I love it."

Lupica owns a moving company and Greene works for him. They train on the company's site.

"It's pretty intense," Lupica said. "I have everything there. We pull moving vans, dead-lift 4,000-pound cars, flip 1,000-pound tires.

"We'll be ready to go. What kind of shape we'll be in depends on how much moving we do this week."

Rounding out Saturday's competitors are Jedd Johnson of Wyalusing, Pa., Michael Becher of Jamestown, Pa., and Richard Walker of Punxsutawney.

Becher finished fourth in last year's Saxonburg event. He works out regularly at Lang's Gym in Greenville and has won strength competitions there.

"I think we enter these things to prove we're strong," Becher said. "You start lifting weights and you do it for years, you start gearing it toward something like bodybuilding or power-lifting.

"This is another thing to gear it toward."

As for how he'll fare Saturday, Becher said: "I don't think I can beat Pope. He's a professional. But I think I can do better than last year."

Johnson has competed in numerous strength contests - winning the Massachusetts and Maryland events already this year - and is entering Saxonburg's for the first time.

"I heard about it just before it happened last year and couldn't enter," Johnson said. "I didn't want to miss it this year.

"I've never had the opportunity to compete against a professional strongman before. I'm looking forward to the challenge."

Burger lifted weights regularly for eight years before taking 18 months off.

He's using the Saxonburg Strength Fest as motivation to pick it up again.

"I've only been back into this for six months or so," the 5-11, 280-pound Burger said. "Doug's been trying to get me to enter this thing for three years now.

"I'm worried about every one of these events. They all require extraordinary strength and extraordinary effort."

Burger served in the Navy for eight years before his discharge in 2000.

"Since I've been out, I haven't found any challenges at home," he said. "But this is definitely a challenge."

General admission is $3 for the Strength Fest, with youngsters under 12 admitted free of charge. Proceeds go to the Mark Boring Memorial Scholarship, presented annually to a Knoch High School senior.

Boring was killed in an automobile accident in 1999.

"He was my lifting partner," Hilliard said. "This event is a tribute to him."