THERE was a silver lining for Dorchester’s David Butt at the ETU European Duathlon Championships in Madrid.

The 60-year-old finished second in his age group following a race which included a 5km run, 20km bike ride and a further 2.5km run.

Butt, one of 20 athletes in his category, completed the course in an impressive 66 minutes despite challenging weather conditions on the day.

Every athlete in the race had to have taken part in one of three pre-qualifying events sanctioned by the British Triathlon Federation last year in order to represent their country.

Butt qualified through an event at Oulton Park and was competing in the sprint category for 60 to 64-year-olds.

The county town ace trains for around nine hours per week and is a member of Maiden Newton Runners and Weymouth Cycling Club.

His wife, son and daughter travelled to Spain to support him and he feels very proud to have represented Great Britain.

“The feeling of standing on the podium in front of the cameras and being presented with your medal is the closest I will come to knowing how Olympic medallists feel, it’s very emotional,” he said.

“I would thoroughly recommend the experience to anyone – it just goes to show how you can compete for your country if you are prepared to put the training in.”

Butt is already straight back in training and looking forward to qualifying for next year’s event.