A trainee gunner has battled back from injury to make his way into the record books.

Edward Iredale, 27, of Ellenborough, Maryport, is currently training at RAF Honington but unfortunately picked up an ankle injury during an exercise.

But the airman was determined not to let this set him back – and he planned a new challenge.

During his rehabilitation he was using a Ski Erg, which gives you a workout similar to Nordic skiing.

And it was on this machine that he broke a British and then a world record.

Firstly he set a new British record of 10,000m, completed in 35 minutes and 45.9 seconds.

This wasn’t good enough for Mr Iredale though, as he went on to set a new world record a couple of weeks later of 8,546m, completed in 30 minutes.

Mr Iredale joined the RAF early last year, saying he wanted a better life and a career that would allow him to be outdoors and adventurous.

He said: “I wanted to feel like I belong somewhere, to something important.

“Everyone looks up to the RAF, and everyone knows it’s an important, professional organisation, and I wanted to be part of something that’s that good.”

He sustained his injury whilst carrying out the fire and manoeuvre exercise during the annual combat marksmanship test back in October.

This is an exercise which sees the trainees run and then leap to the floor as if in combat and preparing to shoot the enemy.

He rolled his ankle but was unaware of the extent of his injury and pressed on through the course.

It wasn’t until he rolled it again a short while later, during a field craft exercise, and struggled to even walk that he was immediately referred to the medical centre.

It was there it was confirmed he had torn ligaments.

But he has now recovered and rejoined his training.

Without injury, Mr Iredale has completed fell running events and half marathons and enjoys competing in challenging environments.