Morecambe power-lifting couple win European strength contests on the same day

Josh Lancaster and Mollie Wagstaff fought off tough competition from around the continent to scoop gold in the Arnold Classic Strong Man and Strong Woman events in Seville, Spain.

Mollie, 33, was stunned to learn she’d taken the top spot in the under 75kg category during the event.

And Josh, 31, admitted feeling 'secretly jealous' of his wife’s achievements before storming to victory himself in the under 80kg weight class.

He then celebrated his victory by entering the under 90kg men’s competition the following day, finishing seventh.

Josh said: “I just felt so satisfied and amazed. Your adrenaline gets going when you support someone, and then once it was finished, I was exhausted.

“I felt, 'I can’t match that in terms of excitement.' I didn’t think I had much of a chance of matching what she did. And I just could believe it when I did.

“It was great that we had an opportunity to compete on the same day, and take our daughter to watch us share that experience."

Mollie took part in five events over a two-hour period, including repeatedly lifting axle bars over her head for a minute and carrying a yoke on her back for 20m (65ft).

She said: “It was really close. The other girls were incredible. The girl who came second was Germany’s strongest woman, so she was particularly strong.

“I didn’t know if I was first or last until right at the end. I had no idea I had won it, I was just trying my best in each event.”

Josh completed his victory by taking part in events such as a 90kg (200lb) log press and flipping a 360kg (800lb) tyre three times in 60 seconds.

He also had to walk 40m (130ft) with 120kg (260lb) in each hand, and do as many 60kg (130lb) dumbbell reps as he could in one minute.

The vegetarian couple, who live in Lancaster with their three-year-old daughter Elsie, first bonded over their shared passion of fitness and Mollie introduced Josh to the elite sport after they started dating six years ago.

And the superfit duo have spent roughly £50,000 on dedicated equipment during the course of their relationship in their quest to get into peak physical shape.

But despite fitness coach Josh being Mollie's personal trainer, they revealed the secret to their strong relationship is that they never train together.

Josh added: “Realistically, we never train with each other at all, and we don’t really like training with each other, to be honest.

“I can see how people would burn out with it if they, say, trained with their partner and then went home and were talking about it.

“And I feel like that’s one of the big secrets to keeping it going for such a long time, as obviously the balance is important.

“We have a gym, our own unit where we’ve bought tens of thousands of pounds of equipment, just so we can train more specifically for the events.

"But we don’t actually like spending time with each other when we’re actually training for the competitions. We communicate a lot about the training via email.”

“It’s nice being able to do sport that we both enjoy and excel in, but then just click our fingers and 20 minutes later, we’re going for a walk with our family.”

Mollie, who works out four times a week around her job as an NHS nurse and earned the title of North of England’s Strongest Woman in April, said: "I really enjoy training – it’s not like a chore. It’s 'me time', really.

“And leading up to competitions, it just becomes more specific to the events in the competitions.”