Former discus champion claims world record in Black Country in memory of friend
A former discus champion from Birmingham who has represented Great Britain took on the impressive challenge of pulling a two-ton Land Rover in memory of a friend who died from ovarian cancer.
And the mighty Kevin Brown managed to break a new world record in truck pulling for dragging the vehicle 69 metres in 45.58 seconds – smashing the standard set by The Record Holders Republic of 69 metres in 69 seconds.
It means – after footage of him doing the challenge was scrutinised – he has now been handed the world record following the event at the Halesowen Athletic and Cycling Club.
Kevin carried out the mission in memory of Maxine Riley, who died aged 69.
Kevin, 56, is an international athlete and has represented Great Britain throwing the discus.
He is also a four-time World Masters champion.
'Richard was there for me during difficult times'
He lives in Kingstanding, and knew Maxine through her husband Richard Riley, who he worked with for 16 years at a school in Small Heath. Richard was a teacher, and Kevin worked as an assistant PE coach.
Kevin said: “I wanted to break the world record in Maxine’s honour. Richard was there for me during some difficult times and I wanted to give something back.
"I won the British Championships based on his encouragement. He helped organise this event for Maxine.
“I do a lot of community games and strong man competitions.
"The Record Holders Republic agreed if I can break 69 metres in 69 seconds they will grant me the world record – which I did.
"I’m a former world discus champion and we do a lot of power exercises, so the easy part was pulling it from a starting position – the hard part was maintaining it.
"After 40 metres my legs were in a coma almost but I knew I had to keep going.”
The event was hosted at the club to raise awareness of local facilities ahead of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Currently, many of the cycling events of the games will be held in London, but Kevin – an ambassador for the games – wants to bring them back to Birmingham and the surrounding areas.
