ST. CLOUD -- St. Cloud is hosting its second annual Granite Games - an international  competition that features the sport's best athletes from all over the globe.

In just its second year, the competition - which takes place on the SCSU campus - has grown into the 2nd largest competition of this type in the world.

Granite Games director, John Swanson, grew up in the St. Cloud area and he says that bringing the competition home  means a lot to him.

"It's been a blessing to bring such a fun and positive event to the area," Swanson says. "Hopefully the community comes and checks it out and embraces it."

It's is a fairly new sport in which various gym workouts are combined into one competitive activity.

"We take everything from fitness, we mash it all up, and we see who the fittest is," Swanson says.

With the event streaming on the web all over the world, the Granite Games have truly become a global event.

Swanson says that holding a competition of this magnitude requires a lot of help from the staff as well as the 600 volunteers from the community.

"None of this would happen if it wasn't for the volunteers," Swanson says.

The Granite Games continue at Hallenbeck Hall and the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center through Sunday, with the 1,100-person competition eventually leading to a winner of $78,000.

Photo by Isaac Schweer, WJON
Photo by Isaac Schweer, WJON
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