A pair of West Cumbrian athletes were on the podium at the British Masters Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Hammer-thrower Bethan Lishman was in record-breaking form as the 35-year-old bagged four silver medals at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium, shattering hammer and weight throw records in the process.

The northern hammer record, which was previously held by Lishman’s friend Diane Smith, had stood for 20 years before the Brigham athlete smashed it on Saturday to set a new best of 42.68 metres.

She also broke the northern record for the weight throw, setting the new standard at 10.66 metres, five years after the previous record was set.

Paul Coon, 37, of Cockermouth, also competed at the championships and came with a trio of medals.

An impressive performance saw Coon collect bronze medals in the long jump and 5,000 metres, while his bronze in the 1,500 metres was upgraded to silver.

“I’ve been on cloud nine since it happened on Saturday,” Lishman said.

“I can’t even explain how bad the weather was – it was horrific and like a monsoon at times so to know that I’ve broken those records in that weather is special.

“My friend said if anyone was going to break her record she would like it to be me.

“I’ve never done a masters competition like this one before so to do my first one at 35 and come back with two records, I’ll take that for my first time.

“Now that I’ve got those records I really want to improve them if I can.”

Lishman is now gearing up for a competition in Manchester later this month before travelling to take part in the European Masters Athletics Championships in September in Venice.

She is still raising cash to help cover the costs of that trip and can be sponsored through her online fundraising page at www.pledgesports.org/projects/european-masters-athletics.

Coon added: “It was a fantastic experience, I loved it.

“The atmosphere was amazing and I’d definitely do it again next year.”