Finishing the 2016 Marine Corp Marathon in Washington DC
Helensvale man mountain Grant Edwards is about to shoulder a heavy workload at the 2018 Pan Pacific Masters Games.
But it’s not like the 49-year-old high-ranking Australian law enforcement officer will be daunted by a weighty schedule that will see him compete in shotput, discus, weight throw, hammer throw and “the dreaded javelin.”
He’s a former World Strongest Man competitor and three-time Australia’s Strongest Man who once dabbled in American football in Hawaii, competed in the World Highland Games in Scotland and single-handedly pulled a 201-tonne steam locomotive 35 metres, with the coal and water trucks attached for good measure.
At 6’4” (195cm) and 130kg, a little shy of 300lbs, he cuts an imposing figure wherever he goes.
“Fitness has been a part of my life since as long as I can remember,” Grant told ABC Gold Coast radio.
“I was in Canberra in the early 90s at the Australian National University I started training at the gym and one of the fellows I use to compete against in the hammer throw years earlier told me about a strongman event he was starting up.”
“They held them at the Westfield shopping centres and we had to lift big stones and hold up heavy Scottish axes for as long as we could.
“We toured the state and it was a lot of fun to do.”
Grant said his train pull was filmed for the 10th anniversary of the BBC Record Breakers television program.
Pulling the 190 tone US Air Force C-17
“I was pulling the train quite easily I thought, and I saw the line I had to reach and suddenly the train just stopped…I was pulling for about a minute and nothing was happening.
“Then the engineer ran down and apologised. He saw all the kids putting their hands in the air in excitement, and in ‘rail speak’ that means stop!
“He pulled on the emergency brake because he didn’t want to run over me.”
These days, Grant is an international liaison officer with the Australian Federal Police who assists foreign and Australian law enforcement bodies when crimes are committed either by Australians or by nationals of other countries on Australia.
His geographic area of responsibility has extended from Greenland to the bottom of Argentina and out to Hawaii.
All of which led to Grant pulling a 190-tonne C17 Starlifter plane across an airport tarmac no less than three times for a cause close to his heart.
“One was Los Angeles Police Department and the other three were US Air Force officers of special investigations, who were considered police.
“At the time I had started working in the area of mental trauma on police, something in fact I have suffered from myself.
“I thought it would be an idea to raise awareness that police actually suffer mental trauma over the length of their career.
“The US Air Force were very keen on the idea and I ended up doing it three days in a row at an air show in Delaware.”
Back at home, Grant says he’s looking forward to heavying in on this week’s Pan Pacs field events at the newly-installed International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)-accredited athletics track at the Runaway Bay Sports Super Centre.
He’ll star in three days of track and field competition that starts on Friday at 9am.
