FORMER world champion Jason Barnett finished second in the World Natural Bodybuilding Championships as the Great Britain team performed well in France.

The squad from Bradford, Leeds and Sheffield took part in the international competition in Bordeaux, following on from the British finals last month.

Barnett, from Bradford, was nominated for a Pride of Britain Award back in 2010 after his work for promoting a healthy lifestyle to youngsters across the city.

His dedication was recognised by parents, who told him that he had changed the lives of their children.

Barnett, aged 45, placed second in his class in the world competition, as well as joining PE teacher Caroline Oliver to be fifth in the couples class.

He said: "I was very close to first. Some judges did have me in first place and they all said it could have gone either way between myself and the winner.

"My heart now is to get back to helping children in schools. I want to organise more events for children to take part in.

"It would be great if we fill a venue with children and have professional athletes come and do performances and give them a message and bands on stage. I will be giving a lot of talks in schools in the meantime.

"I started training when I was 11. I've always been consistent and put 100 per cent into everything since a young age. I now want to put that into this work I'm doing for the children for as long as I'm around.

"It is something that I feel really passionately about and I'm putting a lot of time and energy into doing things for them and trying to improve lives."

The British team competing in France also included Denton Wilson, a 63-year-old cancer survivor, International Prostate Cancer campaigner and author.

Also joining them was former Royal Marine and 2017 British heavyweight champion Nick Adams and team manager Delroy Galloway, a multiple British and UK middleweight champion and winner at the World Firefighters Games.