Mark Higgins (born 16 May 1963) was one of the world's leading

strongman In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or similar circus performers who performed feats of strength. More recently, strength athletics, also known as strongman competitions, have grown in popularity. These ...

competitors, having won the

World Strongman Challenge The World Strongman Challenge was one of the most enduring annual strongmen competitions, running in various guises for twenty years, with only two years break. In that time it attained the position of one of the most prestigious strongman contest ...

on two occasions, and was the British Muscle Power Champion on four occasions. Previously, he was an international

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

er and had been a sailor and basketball player at a high level.

Sporting career

Mark was renowned as a great all-rounder. Mark Higgins threw the discus internationally for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. His best performance was a creditable 50.80m in a meet in Solihull on 13 Aug 1990, although this placed him well down the all-time British list.UNITED KINGDOM ALL-TIME LISTS – MEN , as at 31 December 2006, Compiled by Athletics Weekly
/ref> In addition to this, he was an international basketball player, a champion powerlifter and was also selected to travel with the British sailing team to Australia for the

America's Cup The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one f ...

.Dave Webster, ''The European Corner'', IRON GAME HISTORY, VOLUME 1 NUMBER 1, FEBRUARY 1990 Standing at 6’9", and weighing 364 pounds, Mark Higgins was the biggest international strongman produced by Britain. His competitive era ran concurrently with that of

Jamie Reeves Jamie Reeves (born 3 May 1962)David Webster, ''Sons of Samson Volume 2 Profiles'', page 103 (Ironmind Enterprises), is a British former coal miner, strongman and professional wrestler. As a strongman, he won the 1989 World's Strongest Man, was ...

. Thus, despite attaining a career high of winning back-to-back

titles in 1989 and 1990, he was still considered Britain's number two man, Jamie Reeves being the winner of 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 Decembe ...

. Together, they were the runners-up in the World's Strongest Team competition of 1988, which he had previously won with Geoff Capes in 1987. In addition he had podium finishes in the

World Muscle Power Championships The World Muscle Power Classic (WMPC) (sometimes known as the World Muscle Power Championships) was one of the most enduring annual strongmen competitions, running for twenty years and in that time attaining the position of the second most prestig ...

and was a multiple winner of the highly regarded Le Defi Mark Ten International.Strongman results at David Horne's world of grip
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Mark 1963 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) English strength athletes British strength athletes English male discus throwers British male discus throwers