An Aberdeen bus driver is training to be one of the strongest men in the world.
Kyle Scott can already pull a 12-tonne double-decker bus – and says his colleagues were surprised to learn what he gets up to when he’s not behind the wheel.
The 23-year-old joined First Bus in October after moving from Northern Ireland to the Granite City to live with his girlfriend.
While job hunting, working as a driver for First Bus “seemed to draw him in”.
He told The Press and Journal: “I thought driving a big vehicle like a bus seemed like something cool.
“A lot of times at work, especially when I was training, someone would come in the room and my instructor would tell them that I do strongman.
“They kind of look at you as if you have two heads – almost like, ‘you don’t look strong enough to do that’.”
Aberdeen bus driver inspired by World’s Strongest Man
Kyle was inspired to take up the sport after watching World’s Strongest Man on TV during the pandemic in 2020.
Oleksii Novikov of Ukraine took the title, followed by Invergordon’s Tom ‘The Albatross’ Stoltman who went on to win it for two consecutive years.
Kyle started training and competed for the first time in 2021 aged 20.
Since then he has won numerous accolades for his under 80kg (U80) weight category including the prestigious Natural World’s Strongest Man title in 2023, where all contestants are drug tested.
He said: “I won Ireland’s, the UK’s, then the World’s.
“It was the first year I won the World’s so I was the first person to get all three wins in a row.”
Kyle added that one of his greatest moments was setting the record for heaviest atlas stone lifter as an U80 athlete last year.
He held the record for around eight months.
He added: “It’s hard to believe my own progress sometimes because I started off looking at Irish records and thinking I’m so far away from those.
“Now, I have a few Irish records and I’ve also had a world record.
“I’m competing against the best in the world out in America. It’s just crazy how far I’ve come in the last few years.”
Now Kyle is preparing for two competitions over the next two weeks.
The bus driver is also looking to move up weight categories.
“I’m quite tall from a U80 strongman and I’m still quite young so I’m still growing into my frame,” he added.
“It just made sense to move up the weight category. It’s a big difference with a whole lot of new competitors and heavy weights.
“I’m competing for the next two weekends at Ireland’s Strongest Man U90 then the weekend after is Northern Europe Qualifier for Natural World’s Strongest Man U90.”
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