Mark Westaby (born 17 April 1965) is a British

strongman Strongman is a competitive strength sport which tests athletes' physical strength and endurance through a variety of heavy lifts and events. Strongman competitions are known for their intensity, pushing athletes to their physical and mental limit ...

competitor, notable for being a repeat competitor at the

World's Strongest Man The World's Strongest Man is an international strongman competition held every year. Organized by American event management company IMG, a subsidiary of Endeavor, it is broadcast in the US during summers and in the UK around the end of Decemb ...

Biography

Julian Mark Westaby was born in 1965 in Healaugh, near

Tadcaster Tadcaster is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, north-east of Leeds and south-west of York. Its historical importance from Roman times onward was largely as the lowest road crossing-point o ...

. He attended

Tadcaster Grammar School Tadcaster Grammar School founded in 1557, is a Mixed-sex education, coeducational Comprehensive school (England and Wales), comprehensive secondary school and sixth form located near Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England, educating children aged ...

before becoming a farmer. Mark Westaby's entry into the world of strength athletics was unlike any other of his counterparts. Rather than come into the sport from another sporting career, such as powerlifting, field athletics or weightlifting, or have been a focussed strength athlete, Mark simply wandered across a local strongman contest in 2003, entered it and won. His rise to the highest levels of British strength athletics was fast and by 2006 he had won Adrian Rollinson's Might Midlander contest. He featured prominently in Britain's Strongest Man in 2007, coming fifth overall and even secured a place at the

2007 World's Strongest Man The 2007 World's Strongest Man was the 30th edition of World's Strongest Man and was won by Mariusz Pudzianowski from Poland. It was his fourth and record tying title. Sebastian Wenta from Poland finished second, and Terry Hollands from the United ...

finals. In 2008 he also came fifth in Britain's Strongest Man, and in 2009 came second in

England's Strongest Man Strength athletics in the United Kingdom and Ireland has a long history going back many centuries before the televisation of strongman competitions in the 1970s. The ancient heritage of the sport in the United Kingdom and Ireland lies in a numbe ...

to the soon to be WSM finalist

Laurence Shahlaei Laurence Cristiaan David Shahlaei (born 25 December 1982) is an English YouTuber, strength sports commentator, analyst, coach, and a retired strongman and powerlifting competitor. He is most noted for winning the 2016 Europe's Strongest Man co ...

. He went on to claim third spot in 2009's

UK's Strongest Man The United Kingdom Strength Council was founded by Glenn Ross, the famed strongman and also founder and promoter of the Irish Strength Association. The UKSC, as it is commonly termed, was promoted by Bob Daglish's Elite Strongman Promotions until ...

. In the latter end of 2009 he placed fifth in the Winter Giants event, organised by Denny Felix (wife of

Mark Felix Mark Felix (born 17 April 1966) is a Grenadian-English retired strongman competitor. He has competed at a record 18 World's Strongest Man contests, reaching the finals three times. He is the winner of the 2015 Ultimate Strongman Masters World C ...

). In 2010 he won the regional finals of the England’s Strongest Man contest held in Barnard Castle, but did not feature in the finals of England's Strongest Man. Also in 2010 at the Bodypower Expo at the

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, he won the strongman competition also organised by Denny Felix, and in so doing earned an invitation to the

Strongman Champions League The Strongman Champions League is a Strongman competition circuit, with several Grand Prix events throughout the year and the Strongman Champions League overall champion title going to the overall winner at the end of the season. Competitors in ...

- Ireland competition where he came sixth.Tuesday, 25 May 2010, ''Denny Felix Brings Strongman to the 2010 Bodypower Expo'', by Randall J. Strossen, IronMind
/ref> Outside of strongman, he still runs a

smallholding A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technolo ...

, as well as a landscaping business which he said keeps him fit.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Westaby, Mark 1965 births Living people English strength athletes