RISHTON man mountain Mark Felix missed out on the title of World's Stongest Man, despite asserting his authority as the world's best dead-lifter.

The 41-year-old from Hermitage Street, Rishton, came seventh in the final of the World's Strongest Man competition, shown on TV tonight.

The final was filmed in South California in July but competition rules meant that Mark had to keep quiet about the result until after it was screened on Channel 5.

Mark, who is 6ft 4ins and weighs 21 stone, struggled in the early stages of the event, having problems lifting a 245lb barrel on to a raised casket, and failing to complete the fire engine pulling event.

However, in a bid to reclaim some points and some pride, he stamped his mark on the competition, lifting a 760lb car 11 times, to beat all the other nine competitors.

After his feat, commentators for the event described how Mark "plastered the opposition", refering to his job as a plasterer at home in Rishton.

The title was eventually won in spectacular fashion by Pole Mariusz Pudzianowski, with Brit Terry Hollands coming second.

Mark was so determined to so well in the competition that he upped his training and went part-time from his work to devote more time to his dream.

Mark, who is orginally from Grenda, said: "My confidence was very high going into the event. A lot of it is to do with the mental stuff and the way you approach events and get yourself psyched up.

"For me it's about improving that side. I discovered the "strongman" events when I came to England and I've not been doing it as long as some of those other guys so the longer I do it the more comfortable I become."

Mark originally moved to Great Harwood eight years ago and has been taking part in the strongman events for the past five years, having previously been involved with body building.

He lives with his wife Jenny and their three children.

Jenny went out to support Mark at the competition. She said: "He always does well in the dead-lifts and did fantastically well in the qualifiers, but somehow his head went in the finals and he didn't regain it.

"He was worrying about things that might go wrong.

"The children have watched the final on the television but they're not happy - they'll only be happy when he comes back with a trophy!"

Mark is currently training in America for some more strongmen events to be held at the end of January.

Last year Mark won the Highland Games, Cannock Chase and Midshire strongman titles.