Digging his heels in and refusing to budge has little to do with farmer David Viner's stance on Government rural policies - it's a frame of mind which has won him international sporting recognition.

For David, 52, of Smokewood Farm, Thrupp, near Faringdon, was among an eight-man squad which won a world title at the tug-of-war world championships in America last weekend.

David trains with the Felton Eccles team from Bristol, which became British champions in June.

Pulling in the 640kg category, they beat contenders from 21 countries around the world, including national teams as diverse as Namibia, Japan, Israel and China, to topple the Irish Republic in the final.

Father-of-four David, whose family has farmed at Thrupp for three generations, had to get his normal weight of 90kg down to a fighting fit 79kg for the important contest.

"It's like boxing in that you compete at different weight levels, and the whole idea is to get bigger men into the smaller weight category," he said. "The world title hasn't been won by a British team for ten or 12 years, and yet back in the Sixties we dominated the sport. Now it's the Swiss and Spanish who have taken it over."

David became involved in the heavyweight heaving and grunting stakes 20 years ago when he showed he could pull his weight at fetes around the area.

After showing promise, he was invited to join the local Thrupp team, the Treacle Miners, which had been formed by his father.

Recalling last weekend's win in Rochester, Minnesota, he said: "It felt brilliant. I can understand now how footballers feel when they win a cup match. It certainly makes the adrenaline flow!"

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