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Bill Strikes Gold Again!

HE'S DONE IT AGAIN! Bill McFadyen has brought the gold home from the World Powerlifting Masters Championships for a third successive year.

At an age where most people would settle for picking up their pension, the 69-year-old lifted 155kg to come out on top of the Masters 3 category in the Slovakian town of Trencin.

Bill, of Foundry Lane, Stranraer, holds the world record for his class - a 170kg lift at last year's European Championships - but he had to settle for a more modest lift to claim this year's world title. He said:

"It was absolutely brilliant. I was thinking of making this my last world event but now I just want to keep going - I'm already saving for Miami in 2006!

"The Japanese had sent someone over to take my title off me but he never even got on the scoreboard!"

The Masters Championship is divided into three categories, with Bill competing in the third, for men over 60. This year he was the oldest in a field of seven in the 82.5kg class.

Standing only 5ft tall the former soldier and British Aerospace engineer's low centre of gravity could be the secret behind his success.