The Truck Push for Kids has been certified as a Guinness World Record, but all Troy Conley-Magnusson cares about is raising money for the kids.
As one of the many highlights of last month’s Brisbane Truck Show, and the South Bank Truck Festival running in tandem with it, the emotionally charged fundraising event brought national attention to the heavy vehicle industry’s premier event.
The world’s nicest strongman, Troy Conley-Magnusson had undertaken to go for the world record for the greatest weight of vehicle to be pushed over a distance of 100 feet (30.48 metres).
The moment arrived, on a perfect Friday morning at Brisbane’s stunning South Bank Parklands with a passionate crowd gathered to urge him on.
That is not to downplay the will of hundreds of thousands of television viewers from all over Australia.
Sam Mac, from Channel 7’s Sunrise program counted down the start and whipped the crowd into a frenzy.
To cut a long story short, Troy overcame extraordinary pressure to conquer his quest, all in the name of his fundraising goals for three children’s charities.
The beneficiaries are sick children and their families thanks to the services and care provided by Little Wings, Ronald McDonald House and Sydney Children’s Hospital.
Troy’s backstory is inspiring in itself, having endured his own time needing the help of Ronald McDonald House when he lost a kidney as a child.
His determination to take on this incredible feat was inspired by a little girl named Ava, whose own challenges seemed less daunting when she watched Troy turn adversity into strength and resilience.
The process to ensure the legitimacy of Troy’s world record was comprehensive:
- The location was surveyed by Land Partners. Initially the survey was performed to establish that Little Stanley Street in South Bank did not have a decline of more than 0.1%.
The survey established that the gradient was more than that so Troy was forced to push the truck uphill. Land Partners were there again on the day using their laser surveying tools to ensure that the distance measured was true and the full accomplishment could be certified.
- The Freightliner Cascadia used for the push had come up from Sydney where Troy had been practicing for the big event. The tare weight of the vehicle is just over 10 tonnes, so water tanks were added to get the weight up towards 12 tonne.
- The truck was weighed moments before the push with a set of scales put into place in the loading dock of the adjacent Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre with the judicious oversight of Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads.
- Once the push was completed Land Partners were on hand again to measure and confirm the precise distance of the push, which went well past the 100 foot mark.
Almost unbelievably given the preparation that went into coordinating the event, Troy’s push was almost undone by the truck’s world class safety technology – with a pedestrian detection sensor detecting one the marshals in front of the truck, ironically standing there to ensure no one was interfering with the truck, which could jeopardise the world record.
Despite the raucous atmpsphere, Troy had his wits about him and, having got to know the truck extremely well in training, was able to instruct the driver how to appease the truck’s safety conscious CPU.
Troy Conley-Magnusson, you absolute hero!
The event lasted maybe two hours; the truck push was just under two minutes; the journey and the outcomes are worthy of two lifetimes.
Congratulations to Troy Conley-Magnusson on his Guinness World Record truck push.
