'Becoming a strongman pulled me out of dark times'

Former racing driver Gareth Penn recently came fifth in the Natural Strongman World Championships

A former racing driver who was in a junior team with Jenson Button says becoming a strongman has helped him through "dark times".

Gareth Penn, 45, recently came fifth in the Natural Strongman World Championships in Ireland, making him one of the world's strongest men.

After quitting his two-decade motorsport career, Mr Penn, from Yeovil in Somerset, turned to alcohol and put on about 12st (76kg). But he said stepping into the gym and losing the weight helped him to turn his life around, and brought him a new passion.

"To come out of that the other side, I'm immensely proud of what I've done," he said.

Mr Penn's sporting career began in karting, aged seven, as a way for his dad to "keep me off motorbikes", he said.

"Dad's idea was we'd be in karting for three years and then we had a 19 to 20 year career in motorsport."

He was in a juniors team with former Formula 1 driver Jenson Button.

"We raced together for two seasons and then obviously he went on to a different path than I did," said Mr Penn, adding that Lewis Hamilton was starting racing as he left karting.

He and his dad decided to step away from the sport when they had reached "the highest we could get without financially putting a lot of money into it".

"So we decided to retire on a championship and in 2004 we decided to give it up," he said.

Mr Penn raced karts as a child

Pushing back tears, he said it was "probably one of the hardest things I've ever done".

"From a child all the way up through to an adult it's been something that I've ate, slept and breathed. It's really, really hard to give that up."

He said going from people knowing who he was to "to being another person walking down the street" took its toll.

"I then decided to try and blank that out by drinking."

Mr Penn said he "ballooned in weight", going from about 12st (76kg) to 24st (152kg).

But after seeing a photo of himself in a pub, he said he had a "lightbulb moment".

"I thought 'what are you doing?'"

From there he started training in the gym and lost about 10st (64kg).

In 2012 the gym ran an in-house strongman competition. "And, you know, the rest is history," he said.

"To be able to come fifth in my first attempt was absolutely brilliant. It was phenomenal. Really, really pleased," he added.

"I want to see how far I can go natural," he said, talking of aims to take the title.

"That would be me done. I would have ticked the box in Strongman and I'd sort of take a step back then and help other people get into the sport."

Mr Penn, who now runs his own gym, supports others through their strength journey, going to their competitions and coaching from the side lines.

"I'm always there just to help them out," he said, adding that getting people training helps their mental health.

"To go through the dark time, which was probably the hardest and I didn't think I would ever get out of that, to then suddenly find something that I clicked with and that I was really passionate about, to come out of that the other side, I'm immensely proud of what I've done," said Mr Penn.