A fell running champion has become an internet sensation after he turned into an animal rescuer while out training in the Cumbrian mountains.

A heartwarming video recorded on Ricky Lightfoot's GoPro camera of him carrying a young lamb to safety has gone viral and is approaching one million views on sites like Facebook and YouTube.

The 31-year-old, who's just represented Great Britain at the world mountain running championships in Slovenia, discovered the tiny lamb while running on Great Gable late last month.

"Coming along the bottom path before the cliff I could hear something but in the wind I couldn't make it out fully. But once I had done the scramble I could hear it better so decided to go and have a little look. Eventually it was getting louder and I found it," Ricky, who lives in Dearham, said.

"I thought it was unusual for it to be crying for so long and so loud. It probably took me about 30 minutes from when I first heard it to get down.

"It was a rough journey down and if no one had gone for it, I think it probably would've died. If it was left it probably wouldn't have survived. I don't know how it ended up down there but it was so small it wouldn't have got back up on its own steam."

Ricky, who works as a firefighter in Workington, managed to safely reunite the lamb with a group of sheep nearby.

After posting the video online Ricky says he had no idea it would become so popular.

"You just never know," he added.

"We've put stuff on there before but we've never had that sort of interest but I suppose people like young lambs."

Ricky has been a fell runner for around 16 years and has won titles all over the world.