Disabled athletes show off their pulling techniques

Some of the UK's top disabled strongmen have set five new world records at Brands Hatch for pulling up to four trucks in tandem on the Grand Prix track.

Nine athletes with disabilities including spinal injury, missing limbs and cerebral palsy, were at the Kent circuit to attempt to pull trucks in tandem with a total weight of more than 20 tonnes.

Among them were Greg Bramwell, a current title holder in the World's Strongest Disabled Man contest, and Invictus Games regular Martin Tye, a former serviceman from Farnborough who was injured in Afghanistan.

Athletes pulled two, three or four trucks simultaneously using seated or standing techniques depending on their disability, covering a distance of 20 metres marked out on the track.

The record attempt was a warm-up for a strongest disabled man qualification heat, which will take place at Brands Hatch on Monday 2nd April during the British Truck Racing Championship.

The records set were:

Two trucks: Mark Smith 24.35 seconds (seated), twice Britain's Strongest Disabled Man title holder, ex-serviceman shot in Canada

Three trucks: Michael Bishop 18.05 seconds (standing), 2nd strongest disabled man in the world, suffers from brain condition ataxia

Darren Greenfield 22.4 seconds (seated), top three in all strongman competitions entered, amputee

Four trucks: Michael Bishop 27.4 seconds (standing)

Martin Tye 26.42 (seated), 2nd in 2017 World's Strongest Disabled Man, Invictus Games regular, ex-serviceman, injured in Afghanistan

Tom Savvides has a full report on the day's event with interviews with competitors Martin Tye and Darren Greenfield and Arnar Mar Jonsson, founder of the World's Strongest Disabled Man.