A BODYBUILER who bulked up from his days as a champion gymnast has qualified for the British Championships after winning a Mr Pennine competition.

Sean Coote, 38, won the novice category at the competition in Colne at the weekend and has now earned his place at the national championships in June.

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It’s been quite a journey for Sean, from Blackburn, who was born in the town but left with his parents at the age of four, only to return to do his degree at 18.

He said: “I used to do gymnastics and trampolining when I lived in Anglesey, but when I moved back up here to do my degree I found there was nowhere to train for gymnastics so I put more effort into weight training.

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“I used to travel all over the world competing in gymnastics events and I had the chance to go to the Commonwealth Games, but I missed it to focus on my degree.”

Sean achieved a degree in leisure management and two years ago he opened his own gym, Elite Physiques, in Thomas Street, Blackburn.

“Last year I entered Mr Pennine for the first time, just to get some experience,” he said.

“That was in the first timers’ category and this year I moved up to the novice category. I was made up to win. now I can miss the next couple of competitions to prepare for the British Championships.”

Sean will now be putting in even more work to try and be competitive in the championships at Newcastle.

He said: “The preparation for competition starts a year in advance. You start bulking up and adding muscle mass then the last three months is dieting.

“It requires real dedication, you need to get down to three or four per cent body fat so it is a lot of hard work.”

While Sean was celebrating success in the novice category, Paul Thompson was crowned overall Mr Pennine winner. He took success in the over 40’s category, before being named as the overall champion.