MARK Felix wants to be the strongest man in the world.

The man mountain from Rishton has qualified for the World's Strongest Man finals for an impressive fifth time - and this time he believes he is bigger and better than before.

Felix, 41, finished a disappointing seventh in last year's final - winning his favoured deadlift event - but his fourth place in 2006 is the real yardstick to judge him by.

"I'm bigger, stronger and fitter than ever and I am confident that I can be the strongest man in the world," said Felix. "I want a podium finish at least in this year's finals but I think I am good enough to one day be the strongest man in the world."

Felix, who stands 6ft 4inch tall and weighs in at 21.5 stone, only took up strongman competitions five years ago - something he believes will stand him in good stead for this year and future competitions. He said: "I may be 41 but that is a relatively young age for this sport. I have only been competing for five years so I am still learning and still improving."

Felix swapped Grenada for Great Harwood nine nine years ago and now lives in Rishton with his wife Denny and three children.

He said: "I was disappointed with my performance in last year's final although I was very pleased to win the deadlift event "But the year before I finished fourth but I am greedy and want more success."

Flexing his muscles is a year round occupation for Felix.

This year alone, Felix has been to the Ukraine, Siberia and the casino resort of Mohegan Sun in Connecticut where he won the Rolling Thunder Championships - where he became the first man to lift 300Ibs. - and also booked another appearance in the World's Strongest Man.

In the Ukraine, Felix finished second in the Armold Strongman Challenge and in Siberia, he finished in fourth place in the first round of the World Strongman Federation World Cup - but that was after he had been travelling for 40 hours after missing a flight then just had to hours to prepare for competition.

He also won the Irish Open for the second year running.

He added: "I would love to one day be a full time strongman but at the moment it is important for me to make sure I get the balance right between my family, work and competition commitments.