A BODYBUILDER from Radcliffe travelled to the United States earlier this month to strut her stuff in a competition run by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Kym Birchall, of Montgomery Way, made it all the way to the finals of the IFBB Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio, competing against some of the top bikini competitors in the world.

The personal trainer, who works at her partner Mark Wolfe's Dynamics Gym in Water Street, finished ninth in the contest out of 24 international athletes.

The 29-year-old, who is mum to two-year-old Bailey, said: "I qualified for the Arnolds after competing in the British Championships last year. To make the top 10 in my first international show was a huge achievement for me.

"I have been bodybuilding for about four years now and it is really hard work.

"I dieted for 18 weeks for the Ohio event and had to do a few hours of hard training six days a week. You have six meals a day, mainly chicken, rice, and veg.

"We flew out to America on the Wednesday and it was the pre-judging the day after. There is a lot of standing around and waiting for your turn, so it can be difficult.

"I never thought I would make the finals, so I had been looking forward to the Friday so I could relax and enjoy some proper American food. In the end I didn't really get chance to do that, because I competed again on the Saturday and then we had to fly home on the Sunday."

Having gone through years of intense training in pursuit of her bodybuilding ambitions, Kym is now taking a rest before preparing to compete in another Arnolds event later this year.

She added: "I have qualified for the Arnolds in Barcelona this September, so I might be doing that.

"At the moment, though, I'm just having a bit of a rest period because I have been dieting for two years.

"Sometimes you have to have a little rest so that you can come back and work on different parts of your body more in the future."