TREE surgeon Keith Dighton has catapulted to national success in an unusual field target competition.

Keith, 28, from Eastington, beat dozens of other competitors and broke a new course record at the UK Field Target Catapult Competition in Andover last month.

The father-of-two has been experimenting with different catapults and techniques since he was a child but it was only recently that he started competing.

"It was only last year that I found out there was a UK catapult league and so I signed up and started entering competitions and since then I have never looked back," said Keith, whose five-year-old son, also called Keith, is competing in the junior league next year.

"Being involved in the league is great because it gives me the chance to meet other people who enjoy doing the same thing even though it really did surprise me how good other people were.

"Only five competitors made it to the final in Andover where in order to win I had to hit a £1 coin off a post from 70ft away.

"I was also really surprised by the different types of catapults people used and the range of styles of shooting."

Keith’s next competition is in April where he will have to defend his title and at the end of the year he also has plans to break the Guinness world record of most cans shot in under a minute from 10 metres.

"The current record is 13 and I have already managed to reach 15 in practice but there are so many factors which could affect the result so at the moment I am just practising every day," said Keith.