Chieftain of the Day: Rev. Dr. Kevin Fast,
Rev. Kevin Fast, our Chieftain of the Day is well known around the Heavy Events circuit. A Lutheran Pastor in Cobourg, Kevin is married to Suzanne and has three children, Abigail, Jacob, and Matthew.
Kevin began competing in Heavy events in 1994 as an amateur competitor. He turned to the professional arena in 1996 and is still competing. He has competed in Canada, USA, Scotland and Norway. He set his first Guinness World Record in 1998 with a heaviest Truck pull, 16 tons over 100 feet. In 2007 he set his fifth world record with a truck pull of 63 tons over 100 feet. His most recent record was set just this year, pulling the heaviest truck by arm wrestling, 8.5 tons
We welcome Rev. Kevin Fast to the Scottish Irish Festival as our first Chieftain of the Day. .
To see a brief list of Rev. Kevin Fast's accomplishments, please follow this link
Dan was a member of the Metropolitan Toronto Police for 25 years. Throughout his career he not only performed General uniform duties but he was a member of Major Crime Squad, Homicide Squad, Plain Clothes Squad, Morality General Squad, Morality Drug Squad, Morality Gambling Squad, Intelligence Bureau and the Bike Squad. During his police career he investigated numerous road accidents involving motorized vehicles while working as a uniformed officer. Dan was a personal guard for Prince Charles and P.M. Margaret THATCHER of England and numerous other dignitaries from around the world when they visited Toronto including for the SUMMIT when it was held in Toronto.
While on the police force Dan was a professional athlete competing throughout the world in the Worlds Strongest Man. He represented Canada 3 times and finished 4th in the worlds twice. Dan has also done many interviews on T.V. Radio and newspapers.
Dan was also a Canadian Champion in the Scottish Highland Games ( Heptathlon ) for many years representing Canada throughout the world holding both World and Canadian records.
Countries he has traveled for his competitions include Holland, Scotland, England, France, Spain, U.S.A., Japan, Australia.
Dan has done numerous fundraising events for the Scarborough Centenary Hospital, Sick Children Hospital and numerous other organizations.
TRENTON SCOTTISH IRISH FESTIVAL HEAVY EVENTS
Putting the Stone
One of the classics, and actually the precurser to Olympic Shot Put. The stone weighs (for men) either the light stone at 17-19lbs or the heavy stone weighing in at 24-27lbs. Essentially, there's two ways of doing this one, Braemar style, or open stone. Braemar is the classic,consisting of you planting one foot just behind a block, then placing the stone behind your chin, and resting it on one arm, then just twisting your body and shoving the thing as far as you can, similar to a shotput. One foot must always be on the ground.
Heavy Weight for Height
This one's pretty harsh. It involves taking a 56lb weight (28lb for women), getting a bit of a swing going with it then driving with your legs and hips, and finally your arm and shoulder to clear a bar. All with one arm. Similar to a one-armed power snatch. Needless to say, you need a bit of power for this one, not to mention timing. The world record is 18' 4.5".
Hammer Throw
Again, similar to the Olympic Hammer Throw, except your feet stay still. No spinning. You just dig in, and rotate the hammer (a 16 or 22lb weight on the end of a 4' rattan or PVC pipe for some bend) around your body, then releasing it for distance. Many of the best throwers use a spike on the toes of their feet to dig in. This takes enormous skill, and you almost have to learn to throw all over again, but it seems to be the way to add the extra feet on when you have it.Sheaf Toss
Sheaf! Sheaf! Not sheep! This goes back to one of the classic male things to do. Compete with each other while at work. You grab a pitchfork, stick it into the sheaf (a 16lb or 20lb bag of straw, etc), and toss it over a bar, and in between the two posts the bar rests on. Accuracy and power. After all, how long would you have kept your job if you couldnt toss a hay bale into the hay loft?
