A CARDENDEN powerlifter raked in the medals at the Commonwealth Powerlifting and Bench Press Championships.

Paul Walker came back from Canada with four silver medals and Scottish record lifts and he has his sights set on making the Great Britain team.

He was part of the ten strong Scottish squad who did well in a highly competitive environment.

Paul, a machine man with Bosch in Glenrothes, has only been powerlifting for a couple of years but in a relatively short time has made quite an impact.

He said: “I had what was thought to be sciatica and put on a bit of weight.

“As it happened it was actually a slightly displaced hip which was causing the pain and once things were sorted out I wanted to lose some weight and went to the Apex gym in Kirkcaldy.

“It was there that I was persuaded to give powerlifting a go and within a relatively short period of time I found that I was able to lift some decent weights.

“I entered competitions and suddenly found myself breaking Scottish records and then I was offered the chance to go to New Foundland for the Commonwealth event.

“The competition was really tough but it was something I was able to respond to and I was delighted to break my Scottish squat record twice, going up from 260 kgs to 262.5 and then to 270.”

His silver medals came in the squat, bench press, the deadlift and overall second place.

Having just turned 40 Paul feels he can make the Great Britain set-up: “I am well up the UK rankings so if I can keep up making good lifts the opportunity could come to represent GB and that would fulfil an ambition I have.”

Paul’s six year-old son has seen his dad training and competing and cheekily suggested that he can be a better powerlifter than his dad: “He has shown a real interest in the sport and maybe in a few years time he can start lifting.”

And he said that he would advise anyone who wanted to try powerlifting to go to a gym, get some advice and start lifting.