Sue Taylor-Franklin spent her Sunday afternoon in the sun at the Wales's Strongest Woman event in Cardiff. On another day, she could quite happily have been competing - but this time, she was there to cheer her wife Sam Taylor on from the sidelines along with their 11-year-old son.
The Aberdare-based pair were the first - and so far the only - couple to have ever shared a strongwoman podium, and hold the world record for pulling a 48-tonne plane more than 20m. Their story, which includes escaping abusive relationships and struggles with mental health, will be the subject of a documentary which raised £10,000 on Kickstarter.
Sue's view on balancing marriage with the strongwoman life is clear: "It's competitive since we both compete against each other. We competed against each other in the World's Strongest Woman competition in Florida, so we both understand what it takes. "Sam's never done a competition without me being there. Even through Covid, I entered so she wouldn't be on her own, even when I wouldn't have entered otherwise."
READ MORE: How a council worker who'd never been to the gym became one of the world's strongest women
Sam is the reigning third strongest woman in the world, and the two are the first married couple to ever go head-to-head in a powerlifting competition. They balance their record-breaking strongwoman careers with full-time work - Sue working for mental health charity Mind, and Sam for homelessness charity The Wallich.
Why is the strongwoman life so important to them? "Mental health is a massive part," explained Sue. "We've had a turbulent time with mental health so it's a big thing. We've got a private gym, because in a commercial gym people just stare at you. We train four to five times a week.
"We eat up to six times a day, high protein, low carb. When there's a competition coming, we probably eat 3,500 calories a day. The shopping bills are phenomenal!"
Sadly, the pair have had some online abuse - which is becoming all too common nowadays. "We have been trolled online," said Sue. "It's always the ones with fish in their profile pictures, or 'Be Kind'! They wouldn't say it in person."
Also competing on the day was a name you couldn't miss - Rebecca Roberts, the Bangor-born strongwoman who won the World's Strongest Woman title just four months after meeting her partner, who helped her to lose nine stone and train for the competition. After being bullied as a child for being bigger and taller than the other kids, her meteoric rise in the sport has been inspirational.
She said: "To be honest I've not really trained for this competition because it's one of the smaller ones on my personal calendar. I'm the current World's Strongest Woman so the world championships will be getting the dedicated training - I'm treating this like a training session and a session to give more PR to the sport and hopefully bring more fans out to the shows."
This all sounds very modest - you'd hardly know that Rebecca had been pulling a truck along an athletics track just minutes before giving this interview. But going into the world championships, the training is about to get a lot more intense.
She said: "It's going to be heavy. I'll be training three to four times a week for around three to four hours a session. I'll be doing cardio every single morning and eating probably about 5,000 to 6,000 calories every day.
What keeps her motivated? "Becoming the World's Strongest Woman was amazing," she said. "It's given me so much opportunity to give back to the sport and inspire people to be what they want to be, do what they want to do in life.
"I've had so many people message me saying they've gone into sport or had the inspiration to go forward and do what they want to do because they've seen me break those barriers down."
Meanwhile, sat up in the stands, relaxing with his family, was the reigning Wales's Strongest Man - and back-to-back 2020 and 2021 UK's Strongest Man champion Gavin Bilton. From his physique alone it would be impossible not to realise he's a strongman, but he was an understated figure, sat at the back of the stands wearing a pair of shades.
He explained why he wasn't competing in Cardiff: "I've got the world championships soon, so I'm looking after my body for that. It's a good show but I'm chasing a 1000lb deadlift. This would've been my fifth competition in a few months - it was a difficult one but I'm taking care of myself.
What does the training routine look like, in the run-up to the world championships? "Ferocious," he said. "This is my only day off in the week. I ended up suffering a heart attack and took a long time off. I'm just here to support the boys and make sure they're performing."
The UK's strongest man only ventured out of the stands to cheer on his friends competing in the men's competition, including Luke Sperduti and Simon Hammett - and to take selfies with a few delighted fans in the crowd.
If you want to follow Gavin Bilton's journey to the world championships, you can find all the information here. You can keep an eye on Sam Taylor and Sue Taylor-Franklin's careers and the documentary via Sam's Facebook page, and watch the vlogs on Rebecca Roberts' YouTube channel to see if she wins a second world title.
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