Wendy Thomson is a pretty impressive athlete.

At the age of 60 she is setting PBs for fun and she’s certainly not done yet, she wants many more.

Wendy is a thrower and in the past few months she has set personal bests in the javelin, discus and hammer.

She’s also competed in the British Masters’ Athletics Federation Pentathlon, finishing fifth at Horspath, and is targeting a top three finish next year.

What makes Wendy’s efforts all the more praiseworthy is that she only started throwing when she joined Stroud & District Athletic Club back in 2010, and even then she had to take five years out of the sport from 2014 while she had both hips replaced.

“I used to do triathlon when I was in the RAF,” she said. “I already did quite a lot of running and somebody suggested I tried the triathlon.”

She enjoyed taking part in triathlons but when she first moved to this area in April 2009 – she lives in Stonehouse – she still considered herself first and foremost a runner.

She joined Stroud AC as a runner, taking part in the Stroud Half, Club Beer Race, local cross-county, 10K events as well as parkruns, but soon heard they had a throwing section with a facility in Stonehouse which was very close to home and she thought, ‘I’ll have a go at that’.

And the rest as they say is history.

She trains with fellow Stroud AC life member Dave Peart, who turned 80 this year, and she said: “I got the bug straight away, I love everything about throwing.

“Dave and I train well together, supporting each other. I get great tips from him as he was a former throws coach at the club.

“I love the competitiveness. During competitions you only get three or four measured throws but I seem to be able to cope with the pressure.”

She certainly does because this year she’s thrown 21.86 metres in the javelin, 25.80m in the hammer, 21.46m in the discus and 6.66m in the shot.

Next year her aim is to throw 24m-plus in the javelin, 28m-plus in the hammer, 24m-plus in the discus and a personal best 7m-plus in the shot and the way she’s going – she’s working hard in the gym to build up her strength and flexibility – you certainly wouldn’t bet against her hitting those targets.

Those four disciplines, plus the weight – a short-handled hammer – make up the BMAF throwing pentathlon, so which discipline does she like the most?

“The javelin,” she said. “It’s the most difficult but it’s the one I’m most competitive in.

“When you throw the javelin and it flies threw the air how you want it to, you think, ‘That was easy!’.

“The skill is in repeating it though!”