A MEMBER of Wellington’s farming community will soon find out if he can call himself Britain's Fittest Farmer.

Commercial director from Hillferrance, Sam Gayton entered the competition run by Farmers Weekly for the first time last year but missed out on the finals.

This year, Sam will be one of ten finalists in the Male over 40 category heading to Diddly Squat in Chipping Norton on Saturday, September 26 hoping for a place on the podium.

The competition, launched by the farming magazine in 2018, was a fun way to start a much-needed and very important conversation within the farming community.

Sam, who works for farm animal veterinary practice Synergy Farm Health, said: “You can take part by being a farmer, or you have to be closely related to the farming industry, so by nature of working alongside farmers, I can qualify for the event.

‘Yes it’s a fun event but it’s also got a strong message around promoting wellbeing in farming; it’s designed to spark a conversation about physical and mental wellbeing in the nation's farmers.”

The 52-year old qualified to go through to the final at the Cereal event at Diddly Squat in the middle of the heatwave in June. He said: “The heat was hard, it was tough, it was heavy. But I've done a lot of training.”

Pulling a tyre, lifting a barrel, sandbag throwing, and dragging a truck sponsored by VW - all things you’d expect from a Britain’s fittest event. However, 25 percent of the points awarded are made up by judging the mental health of competitors and how they look after themselves.

Sam explained: “We had to fill in a questionnaire about how we manage our own mental health and how we would support the industry.

“Farming has, unfortunately, a very high suicide rate. It's one of the discussions that needs to happen more in farming.”

Sam trains regularly at Pulse Gym in West Buckland and this time around is leaving nothing to chance. For the final two months of his preparation he has enlisted the help of Nikki McGrath from Recruit 6 Bootcamp - a recent recruit to Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins.

“I’ve had a nutritionist as well, given up the booze; I've worked hard. It's been a bit like being an elite athlete for a couple of months.”

Although he admits now to getting bored of eating chicken and rice, not being able to drink and having to go to bed early and get up early for training, it’s all been worth the effort.

“I'm not sure I'm going to win but I'm pleased to be in the final and pleased to be championing that side of farming,” he said.

“I'm 52 now and I'm probably in the best shape I've ever been in; I would imagine the strongest, definitely the fittest, so, I definitely like to think that it's something I can keep up.”

He added: "A more open discussion around mental health and agriculture is something that I would like and to use this as a platform for that.”